6B Book Reviews by Title

Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z

The Cay by Theodore Taylor

Reviewed by: Mariah D

The Cay is about a family living on the small island of Curacao during World War II.  The mother of Phillip wanted to bring him back to America where she used to live.  She feels it would be safer.  After a lot of arguing between Phillip‘s mother and father, it is decided that mother is going to take him on a ship to America first thing.  While they are on the ship an unexpected hit by the German U-boat causes the ship to blow up.  During this, Phillip is knocked out cold.  He soon wakes up on a life boat with no one but a big black man, named Timothy, and a cat.  They are lost at sea with no land surrounding them.  While in the course of finding land and trying to get along with Timothy, Phillip goes blind from the blow back at the ship.  They eventually find land and Phillip has to learn how to work and use his only 4 senses he has.

I loved this book because it grabs you into the book and doesn’t let you go until you finish it.  Even when I finished I wanted to read it again!  I loved how it was set in times before whites and blacks got along.  The author always ends a chapter by leaving you hanging.  Always wanting to know more, I would read 4 chapters at a time.  I finished this book in 3 days.  It was the most amazing book I have ever read.

I would highly recommend this book because it is full of suspense.  At times it can be humorous, but it really made me think how hard it can be to be blind, especially when you are not born blind.  It can also be hard for two very different people to get along, but it is possible.  I would also recommend this book for people who enjoy historical happenings and books where the character is learning something very useful.  Even if you don’t enjoy things like that, you should still try to read this amazing book.

The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

Reviewed by: Christina M

In a world where everything is dark, the sky is black, your city is the only light in the world, and the only form of light comes from light bulbs, Linda and Dune, two twelve-year-old kids, are ready to pick their jobs on Assignment Day.  Linda really wants to be a Messenger so that she can explore the city by foot and Dune wants to be a Pipeworks laborer so that he can be down in the Pipeworks where the generator is.  He is so good at fixing things that he thinks that if he could get one glance at the Generator he could fix it and be the hero of the city.  Meanwhile the city is running out of supplies, including light bulbs.  Then, one day Linda finds instructions to possibly get out of the city and into the Unknown Regions…  Will she use them?  Will she leave everything she loves and owns behind?

The City of Ember is a very suspenseful book.  Always wondering if Linda will do something or what she will do next.  I could never put the book down.  Also, it made me wonder if our world is really just a small light. That maybe there is other people far away thinking that the way they live is the only way to live, but they’re just another small light.  That maybe Earth is the only light in the Milky Way, but once you are out of this galaxy there is a broad, vast light that no one knew about before

I highly recommend this book.  There is also two other books after this one.  I’m sure that if you read this one you’ll want to read the other two.

The Clique by Lisi Harrison

Reviewed by: Colleen M

Massie Block is probably the most popular girl at Octavian Country Day School (OCD). Early in the book, Massie finds out that one of her father’s old friends is moving to Westchester (where she lives). He needs a place to stay so Mr. Block offers them the guesthouse at The Block Estate.  Massie knew that Mr. Lyons, her father’s friend, has a daughter her age.  Massie is nervous that the new girl, Claire, will take away her popular status.  She does whatever she can to keep others from liking Claire so she can maintain her “spot on top.”

When I was reading The Clique it was amazingly engaging and I could be read it for hours at a time.  I really enjoyed reading the book and was excited to find out that there are about eight other books in the series. The book was very well written and I was able to comprehend what the author was trying to say.  I could visualize all of the descriptions very easily.  Now that I have finished the series I have my own idea of how I think the characters look and act.

I recommend The Clique mostly to girls that are in the middle school age group.  Others could read it as well although I believe that middle school girls would enjoy it the most. Lisi Harrison is a wonderful writer for teenage girls and comes up with wonderful plots. The Clique was very entertaining and it was probably one of the best books I’ve ever read.

The Clique by Lisi Harrison

Reviewed by: Katie D

This book is about a girl named Massie Block whose life got “ruined” by a girl named Claire Lyons who moved to Massie’s guest house because their dads were college “buddies”. Massie had to cancel her plans just to meet Claire. Massie was mad because she had to cancel her plans with her friend decided to lie to her friends saying she was sick. During the book Massie gets her friends to hate Claire. Claire decides to fake being Massie until she finds out. Then the drama begins!!

This book in my opinion is very interesting as soon as one thing happens another thing begins. The author’s meaning of the book is to not lie and don’t judge people on their looks. I agree with this message because there maybe people who don’t dress as nice and in high quality, but it doesn’t mean that the person isn’t good or friendly.

The Clique by Lisi Harrison

Reviewed by: Rachel E

This book is about a group of best friends (the Pretty Committee) that rule OCD (Octavian Country Day school). The Pretty Committee is Massie the head of the clique, Alicia the pretty one, Dylan a girl who is not afraid to eat, and Kristen the sporty one. They are all very rich, spoiled and snotty but, when a normal girl named Claire comes into Massie’s life wearing overalls, will there popularity be threatened or will she leave them last years Marc Jacob’s jeans?

This book good for GIRLS the age of 12 and older because the main characters show very bad examples of how to act and there may be some harsh language. I really like this book because it relates to problems in every ones daily lives and it is very entertaining to find out how the Pretty Committee solves there problems which normally involves material things. I would highly recommend this book!

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

Reviewed by: Danielle Q

Are you Jewish? If you are and you were living in the setting of my book you would be in trouble .You would have to choose to either die or go in to hiding. It was the Holocaust. The book title is Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl and was by Anne Frank. The copyright date is 1952 and was translated from the Dutch.    The genera’s of my book is Non-fiction, and Autobiography. The book is about Anne Frank and for her 13th birthday she gets a plaid diary. She named it kitty. Not long after her and her family had to go into hiding, because they were just Jewish. The book is about Anne’s diary. She writes about her feeling and her and her families problems. The idea of the book was to inform you not just on a war but on what a war can do to a family or a child like Anne and what they go through to save their family and their selves.

When I read this book I sometimes laughed, cried, and I usually didn’t want to put the book down. This book made me want to do a little more research on the Holocaust, and now I know a little more about it. This book is NOT boring .I would recommend this book mostly to girls that like to read about events in history and who likes true stories.

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

Reviewed by: Hannah N

The story The Diary of a Young Girl is about a 13 year old girl who lives with her family and friends in an old office building. The name of the main character is Anne Frank she has a sister named Margot, a mom and a dad. They are all hiding in the office building because they are all Jewish and there is a man named Hitler who is killing all of the Jewish people because they are not like them and he wants everybody to look and be like him. And if they are not like Hitler he will kill them just because he has the power to. So Anne and her family are hiding in the old office building for around two years. If you want to find out how the story ends you have to read the book.

I would recommend this book to young adults at the age of 12 and higher. Only because it has a lot of things that younger kids would not understand. Also I would recommend this book to girls because it is a very good book and it would probably just be for girls, unless some boys want to read it to. It might connect to some of the girls that read this book but I must tell you that there are some parts of the book that are sad.

The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

Reviewed by: Kyleigh J

There are two girls, Melanie Ross and April Hall, and they just met and they’re not sure if they have anything in common. But sooner or later they both love anything to do with ancient Egypt. They loved it so much that one day they took a walk and all of a sudden they stumbled upon a deserted storage yard behind an antique shop. They both thought it would be a good spot for that Egypt game. Before long there are six Egyptians instead of two. After school and on weekends they would all meet up and plan out their costumes, hold ceremonies, and work on their secret code. Everyone thinks it’s just a game but it’s really not. Something mysterious is happening to the players in the Egypt Game and they also have to worry about a serial killer.

This book was very interesting to me because I love to read mysterious books. If I wrote a book I would definitely write a book like this one. But I didn’t like how all of a sudden a serial killer comes out and they say he killed 2 kids. But otherwise this book was very interesting. I enjoyed this book a lot.

I really enjoyed this book a lot and I recommend for age 9 and up.

The Gadget by Paul Zindel

Reviewed by: Zac G

The book The Gadget was written by Paul Zindel and was published in 2001. This book is a historical fiction. It’s about when scientists were producing an atomic bomb to finish World War II. One of the scientist’s sons, Stephen comes all the way from England to a base in the United States called Los Alamos so he could be with his father. He meets a boy from his school named Alexei and they become great friends. Saboteurs could be hiding anywhere in the base so Stephen has to be very careful. Something isn’t right about Alexei though, I guess you’ll read to read the book to learn more.

I recommend this book to any person that is 10 or over because this book may get confusing at some times if you don’t know that much about World War II.

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Reviewed by: Ryan K

In The Giver, the main character, Jonas, lives in a community where everything seems to be perfect.  He has a mother and a father and a little sister.  He has lots of friends, and nobody ever fights. When children in the community turn twelve, a career is chosen for them based on what they are interested in and what they are skilled in. But when Jonas is assigned his career, he learns things that very few people in the community are aware of.  This totally changes his thoughts about the community, and he and his mentor, The Giver, plan to do something drastic.

The Journal of C.J. Jackson by William Durbin

Reviewed by: John Paul P

C.J., a thirteen-year-old boy, and his family moved to a nice farmland in Flint, Oklahoma in 1895.  Little did they know that sandstorms were coming from the West.  These sandstorms wipe out houses, cars, and farms.  So the storms did just that.  Since the farm got wrecked and the got house torn apart, they moved to California to start a different life.  It took a very long time to get to California because they rode in an old Ford Pick-up truck.  They had a lot of problems with the truck on the way there.  The engine blew, had a flat tire, couldn’t make it up a hill, and you’ll find out the rest.  It took them three more days than it should have to get to California.  When they got to California people were giving them grief because they were from Oklahoma and poor.  The people called the “Okies”, and that made C.J. really mad.  He gets so mad that he does really bad things that he is not suppose to.  Them he gets in really big trouble.  They made it to California okay.

The author was really good.  He makes the book funny by explaining things a different way like, “When one door closes on my face and I go to the Hospital, another one opens”.  He says a lot of other funny things like that.  This was a suspenseful and thrilling book.  This was not a real journal by C.J. Jackson.  The author of this book made C.J. Jackson up but some of the events were real.

This story had many turning points.  In some parts it was funny; in other parts it was sad.  Sometimes it was suspenseful like when C.J.’s family was very poor, and the next thing you know, C.J. is sitting on a lawn chair on a sunny day in California.  The author was saying not to ever give up and I support that.  C.J and his family never gave up.  They were poor because of dust storms ruining their farm in a small town, and then they were middle class people living in California.  They definitely didn’t give up.

The Life and Death of Elvis Presley by Barry Denenberg

Reviewed by: Alex M

The book life and death of Elvis Presley was all about his life until he died. The book explains how Elvis Presley went to a poor boy to a rock; and roll legend and movie star. Everybody loves Elvis in 1953- 1977.

The book change my life because I us to look up to Elvis now I don’t because he died of drug on the toilet and I don’t want to follow his way of life by dieing of drug on the toilet.

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Reviewed by: Danielle H

Percy Jackson is a dyslexic boy who also has ADD. He has been kicked out of all the schools that he has ever been to. Some very weird things happen to Percy including having his teacher turn into a monster and try to kill him. Percy’s friend, Grover, takes him to a special “summer camp” where he learns that he is the son of a Greek god. Then Percy finds out and solve the crime that he is accused of, he takes the challenge. Out in the world where monsters tring to kill him and his friends, Percy doesn’t think he will ever make it to Hades. Will Percy find out who stole the master lighting bolt or will he die trying?

This book is a book that will make you think about the Greek gods and goddesses. When I read this book, I thought about how it would feel to be a god or goddesses child.  This book changed the way I look at things that I take for granite. I always thought that no matter what, I would be safe. This book got me thinking about how hard life would be if I weren’t always safe.  I also made me think about how hard it would be to live when so many people are out to get you. The Lightning Thief made me feel sorry for people who have things like ADD and Dyslexia. It would be very hard to deal with that sort of thing along with monsters! I think that the author was trying to get readers to think about the Greek gods and goddesses along with the feeling of being overwhelmed with too many things going on at once. I think that people can believe whatever they want to about the gods but I also think that the gods are a really cool subject to write about.

This is a book that people who like history would like.  People that like to read about history coming to life will really like this book for many reasons. One of these reasons is, the book talks about gods, and the monsters that they care for. I do not recommend this book to people that think that books can come real. Also, do not read this book if you think that everything you read is real.

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Reviewed by: Danielle H

Percy Jackson is a dyslexic boy who also has ADD. He has been kicked out of all the schools that he has ever been to. Some very weird things happen to Percy including having his teacher turn into a monster and try to kill him. Percy’s friend, Grover, takes him to a special “summer camp” where he learns that he is the son of a Greek god. Then Percy finds out and solve the crime that he is accused of, he takes the challenge. Out in the world where monsters tring to kill him and his friends, Percy doesn’t think he will ever make it to Hades. Will Percy find out who stole the master lighting bolt or will he die trying?

This book is a book that will make you think about the Greek gods and goddesses. When I read this book, I thought about how it would feel to be a god or goddesses child.  This book changed the way I look at things that I take for granite. I always thought that no matter what, I would be safe. This book got me thinking about how hard life would be if I weren’t always safe.  I also made me think about how hard it would be to live when so many people are out to get you. The Lightning Thief made me feel sorry for people who have things like ADD and Dyslexia. It would be very hard to deal with that sort of thing along with monsters! I think that the author was trying to get readers to think about the Greek gods and goddesses along with the feeling of being overwhelmed with too many things going on at once. I think that people can believe whatever they want to about the gods but I also think that the gods are a really cool subject to write about.

This is a book that people who like history would like.  People that like to read about history coming to life will really like this book for many reasons. One of these reasons is, the book talks about gods, and the monsters that they care for. I do not recommend this book to people that think that books can come real. Also, do not read this book if you think that everything you read is real.

The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

Reviewed by: Jordan M

This book begins with four children, Lucy, Peter, Edmund, and Susan. Bombing have happened over England (where they live), so they get sent off to a house way out of town. The house is HUGE and they play hide-and-go-seek in it. Lucy hides in a wardrobe and when she walks back in the wardrobe, there is snow. So Lucy travels off and she finds a creature that said that she is in Narnia. (Narnia is a different world). When she goes back to the house no one believes her. So Edmund goes into the wardrobe and finds himself in Narnia. (Lucy finds Edmund there) and when they go back to the house, Edmund said he wasn’t there. So when the four children go check if Narnia was there, no one could get in.

One day, they broke a window and they wanted to hide, so they go into the wardrobe and they end up in Narnia. On their adventure in Narnia, they meet a villain, the White Witch, who is the queen of Narnia and wants the children out of Narnia. Then they meet the Great Lion, Aslan. Later on in the book there is a war between Aslan and the White Witch. You will have to read it to find out why there is a war, who wins, and why the children are trying to save Narnia!!!! (Also, the children can leave, but they are pressured to save Narnia.) I really liked this book because of the story line and the details the author put into it. This book has some intense moments with some sad moments. I thought this book as a wonderful fantasy adventure.

I would recommend this book for ages nine and up because there are a couple violent and sad parts in this book. I hope you like the book!!!

The Mystery of the Scarlet Slippers by Carolyn Keene

Reviewed by: Jessica D

The Mystery of the Scarlet Slippers was an interesting book. The main character, Nancy Drew, is a teenage detective who lives in a town called River Heights. In the book, Nancy is taking a dance class held be two French teenagers named Hennery and Herra. When the dance class is over, Herra and Hennery go to their office. Herra notices that her Scarlet Slippers are missing. Nancy offers to help find Herra’s slippers. At the dance recital, Nancy sees one of the dance teachers with the slippers. Will Nancy find the Scarlet Slippers? If you want to find out, read The Mystery of the Scarlet Slippers.

This is a great source of a mystery book. I would recommend this book for people who like to read mysteries. It is good for all ages and for people who like to read all different types of books. I thought this book was amazing! I have never read anything like it.

The Nannies by Melody Mayer

Reviewed by: Marissa P

My book is about three girls from different places that meet and become the best of friends. One of the girls name is Lydia she has spent eight years in the wild jungles of the Amazon. Her aunt Kate offered her a job to baby-sit her children for her in Los Angles. Another girl is Esme she lived in a rundown place and got a chance by her mothers boss to baby-sit their children in Los Angles too. There’s one more girl her name is Kiley and her life was plain out boring. When she tried out to be on a TV show to baby-sit a rock stars kids in L.A., she hopes on the offer. These Girls go through many hard dissensions and adventures in L.A.

This book is very funny and interesting and I could not put it down you always want to find out what happens next. Wait until you get to the end and find out the author’s message I agree with it will you? The book meant friendship to me and just having fun and doing what you want sometimes in life. I recommend this book to kids in middle school and high school. If you read this book you will find out more information that I left out. If you like this book as much as I did there’s a series.

The Pretty Committee Strikes Back by Lisi Harrison

Reviewed by: Mackenzie K

Ever want to read  a clique book? Well in my opinion this is the best one yet! The book takes place in Lake George when Octavian County and Briarwood go on a school filed trip to the great outdoors, but they don’t just learn about maps and geometry.When Massie sets up M.U.C.K (massie underground kissing clinic) she will have to teach the pretty committee everything she knows about kissing, even though she has no experience herself. Alicia is on a search to find out whom her Abercrombie and Finch loving crush Josh likes, but what she finds might be too much to handle. Kristen can’t afford to go to Lake George, but will it stop her I think not. Was it even worth going after her she lies to her mom to help Massie and then after all turns out to be a nightmare? Claire who is heart broken from Cam breaking up with her after Alicia’s hot Spanish took over the boys with her pretend spell. Will Claire won back Cam or will Claire’s secret about her kissing Josh destroy everything?

This book is one in a series. Although all the clique books have made me want to keep reading this one has token it to the next level. In most of the books you don’t have to read them all to understand it but in this one you probably should read the one before The Pretty Committee Strikes back. I had many different emotions when I was reading this book, it made me want to scream and I did laugh out loud a couple of times. This book also made me want to call Lisi Harrison and ask her why she had to make the characters do that. In the end it all worked out at least for me but maybe not Massie, Claire, Alicia, Kristen, Dylan. I couldn’t wait to read the next book in the series. Although I have read everyone book including the summer collection this is still my favorite one off all time. I love this book so much I read it twice.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares

Reviewed by: Mackenzie N

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is a great series about the friendship of four teenage girls. Every summer they are separated but there friendship lasts because of one pair of magical pants. The girls are all different shapes and sizes but this one pair of pants fit all of them. They pass the pants by mail and they feel a sense of confidence whenever they wear them. Something good happens every time they wear the pants, even though it might not seem great at the time. This book will pull at your emotions, it will make you laugh, and it will even make you cry.

This series is one of my favorites it’s really funny. When I wasn’t reading it I found myself wondering what the characters were going to do next. It really drew me in and the farther though I got in it the harder it was for me to put it down. All four of the books really show what a great friendship the girls had and I really liked reading about them.

I highly recommend this book. If you like realistic fiction you’ll really enjoy this book. This book will keep you on the edge of you seat and I really hope that you will read it!

The Thoroughbred Series by Joanna Campbell

Reviewed by: Aimee S

These books, starting with A Horse Called Wonder, take place in the rolling blue grass hills of Kentucky. Throughout the book Christina and her cousin Melanie travel to many different race tracks. They also go through many rough times with the neighboring farm owned by Brad Townsend. In the first book, A horse named Wonder is born but is predicted to die. Ashley, Christina’s mom, nursed Wonder back to health and he became one of the greatest racing legends ever to live. Wonder birthed many other racing legends, one of which Christina is the proud owner , Wonders Star. At each race new problems and excitements unfold in every direction

This series is my personal favorite. Its goes through real life situations on and off the track. My babysitter led me into reading these books, I couldn’t put them down. I read the whole series, 73 books, in a little less then 2 years. These books changed my life greatly. When I finished that first book, I started riding myself. Now I have been riding for 7 years. At the end of each books a suspense will draw you in to make you keep on reading. Throughout out the book Melanie and her rock star boyfriend Jazz, buy a filly named Image. They train her to from scratch but she is good enough for the Kentucky Derby!! Will she win against all of the high stung colts?

This is a great series for people who are interested in horses and life on the track. It is funny, scary, and sad mixed all in one. Around every corner a new challenge or danger come to the plate.  What will happen in the last book. Will all of the horses come out safely, or will there be a major accident?

The Wish by Gail Carson Levine

Reviewed by: Sobia S

In the book there is this girl named Wilma and she is in 8th grade, and is a really unpopular girl at her school ever since her two best friends moved. (By the way the setting of the story is in New York City.) One day Wilma was going to school on the subway train. There is a really big rush and Wilma sees an old lady who looks like she is going to fall. Wilma gets up and gives her seat to the old lady. The old lady asks Wilma “What do you wish for?” Wilma doesn’t  say anything but thinks that if she could wish for something what would it be. She wishes if she could be the most popular girl at Claverford. Then her wish comes true and she is the most popular girl at her school. But then she soon realizes that she will graduate in a couple of weeks. The only way you can find out what happens next is if you read the book yourself.

I think that this book was very interesting and exciting for me, and hope that it will be for you too. Plus, I know that there isn’t a book that both boys and girls can’t read, but I think that girls would prefer this book. If you like Cinderella stories, fairytales and modern day, this book is for you! So my final comment on this book is…

TTFN by Lauren Myracle

Reviewed by: Kiersten J

TTFN is very interesting in my oppion, and I think that a lot of girls would like it a lot. One thing is girls or boys at a younger age wouldn’t get some of the things they talk about so this would be more of a book for teen’s or ages 11 and up. I agree with the authors theme because it was differen

Teacher Websites © 2009 SchoolWorld