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Title: Saffy’s Angel
Author: Hilary McKay
Rating: *****
Name: Kendra |
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This is an inspiring story that shows that you should always follow your
dreams. It also teaches that it’s okay to be different than the others you
love. It was a kind of sad book, but very fun to read. I think anybody 4th
grade and up would really enjoy this book. Find out more by reading,
Saffy’s Angel!!! |
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Title:
The Secret Life of Bees
Author: Sue Monk Kidd
Rating: ****
Name: Amy |
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This was a really good book. The reading level wasn’t too difficult; it
keeps your attention, and has a good plot. It contains good messages (the
themes) and has interesting symbols. Especially near the end, you want to
keep reading to see what happens next. One interesting thing is the
passages at the beginning of each chapter. I noticed that these can
foreshadow what will happen within that chapter. |
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Title: Freak the Mighty
Author: Rodman Philbrick
Rating: ****
Name: Erin |
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I thought it was a very interesting book because there is a kid named
Freak who you would think would be a child who wasn’t so smart and turned
out to be a boy who knew about everything in the world. And Max who is a
very big and strong kid who doesn’t have the smartest brain in the world
but when they’re put together they make a wonderful team! |
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Title: A Time for Dancing
Author: Davida Wills Hurwin
Rating: *****
Name: Anonymous |
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I thought this book was so good because it was only about these two girls
and how they deal with a horrible situation. One of them, Jules, finds out
that she has cancer and there isn’t a cure for it. It is heartbreaking and
even though the title has dance in it, it really isn’t about dancing. |
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Title: Summerland
Author: Michael Chabon
Rating: *****
Name: Alissa |
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This book is great for fantasy and baseball lovers alike. It is a great
story, and very unique. It teaches valuable lessons about friendship,
trust, and life. It’s an adventure like no other and I really enjoyed
reading it. |
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Title: Shadow Puppets
Author: Orson Scott Card
Rating: *****
Name: Anonymous |
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I think that it’s a great sci-fi book, because it entwines futuristic
politics (where there is a world government and presidency), cool sci-fi
gadgetry, and biogenetic engineering. I can’t wait to get my hands on a
copy of Shadow of the Giants. |
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Title: Ella Enchanted
Author: Gail Carson Levine
Rating: *****
Name: Shelby |
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I loved it! It was so good! I thought it was one of the best books I ever
read. There was so much adventure. My favorite part was the part when she
stayed with the elves! |
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Title: A Northern Light
Author: Jennifer Donnelly
Rating: *****
Name: Anna |
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This book tells of the life of a young girl named Mattie. Mattie’s mother
has passed away and lives with her father and sisters. She tries to
balance school, along with work at home which is very difficult. When she
gets the chance to go to college, she must decide whether to leave or
stay. This is a great book which involves romance, and mystery. It is SUCH
a great read and it was hard for me to put the book down. |
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Title: Heartbeat
Author: Sharon Creech
Rating: ****
Name: Anna |
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This was a great book! It was a nice quick read. The main character in
this book is Annie. Annie loves to run barefoot. Annie’s mother is
pregnant, and they call the baby “alien baby”. Along with this, her
Grandpa is suffering from Alzheimer’s. Annie’s friend is pressuring her to
join the girl’s track team, but Annie wants only to run by herself. Annie
has to battle herself, trying to decide whether or not to join the team. |
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Title: The Wish List
Author: Eoin Colfer
Rating: ****
Name: Tyler |
The Wish List is a book written by the author famous for Artemis Fowl. It
is about Meg, who dies when she is robbing an old man’s house. But when
she dies she is neither good enough for Heaven, nor bad enough for Hell.
Meg is thrown back onto earth, where if she wants to go to Heaven, she has
to help the man she robbed.
Although the book is just okay for the first 80 or so pages, if you keep
reading, you will be greatly rewarded. |
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Title: Al Capone Does My Shirts
Author: Gennifer Choldenko
Rating: *****
Name: Julia |
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I really liked it because it gave you a lot of information and it was the
kind of book that you don’t want to put down but just keep reading. I
liked the main character named Moose, because he loved his sister and
treated her normal even though she was a little autistic. Moose and his
family live on Alcatraz Island where convicts live and the book talks
about Moose struggling with his life on the island. |
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Title: Girls in Pants
Author: Ann Brashares
Rating: ***** Outstanding!
Name: Bess |
This book was about 4 teens named Bridget, Carmen, Lena, and Tibby. It’s
the summer before they’re all off to college and they know that they won’t
see each other very much once fall comes. Lots of things change, Bridget
has to work with Eric, the only true love she ever had, Tibby’s friend
Brian want to be more than just friends, Carmen finds out that she is
going to have a younger brother, and Lena wants to get a scholarship for
DISD. They all work through their problems and work together and improve
their friendships with one another.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to read about friendships
and love, because this book is full of them both. It is very descriptive
and many parts are very surprising. |
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Title: Go Ask Alice
Author: Anonymous
Rating: ****1/2 Great!
Name: Bess |
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This book is a journal of a girl who starts out very sane and actually
very sweet and then she tries drugs for the first time, and things start
going downhill. She starts hanging out with different people, other drug
addicts, and tries different drugs all the time. After a while, she
realizes what she is doing to herself and tries to stop, but she says that
life is nothing without drugs. Once she finally decides she is going to
stop, people look at her funny and make fun of her and threaten her. She
is scared for herself and her family and one day, someone drugged her and
they sent her to an insane asylum. The whole book is about Alice’s
struggles to not use drugs.
I think this book is only for people who can stand some pretty gory stuff
and if you can, then I think you should definitely read it. It also gives
you a lot of background about drugs. |
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Title: Behind the Secret Window
Author: Nelly S. Toll
Rating: **** Very Good!
Name: Bess |
This is an autobiography about Nelly Toll. She was very young and lived in
Germany when World War II broke out. She lived with her parents and they
didn’t know how terrible it was going to be until officers started looking
for Jewish people. Nelly was Jewish. She had go hide away in a woman and
mans house behind a picture in a little room and Nelly and her mother were
almost caught several times. Nelly was split apart from her family and she
drew pictures often. She would draw things that she remembered to keep her
mind off what was happening in the world. Will Nelly live? Will she be
sent to a Concentration Camp? You will have to read the book to find out.
I think this book helped me understand WWII a lot better and I think
anyone should read it, especially if you are interested in Wars because
this book was very different to all the other books I have read about the
holocaust. |
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Title: The Au Pairs
Author: Melissa de la Cruz
Rating: *****
Name: Anonymous |
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This book was so awesome!! The best part about the book was how at first
the girls didn’t really like each other but by the end of the summer they
were best friends. I also liked how they were working for rich people in
New York because I’ve always wanted to know what it was like to be rich.
And it was in a present day setting. |
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Title: Princess Academy
Author: Shannon Hale
Rating: ****
Name: Audrey |
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This book is about a girl named Miri who is chosen to go to a princess
school. From the graduates of this school, one girl will be chosen to
marry the prince, who will soon be coming of age. It was a pretty good
book, and went pretty fast. If you like fairy tales, you’ll like this
book. |
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Title: The Poisonwood Bible
Author: Barbara Kingsolver
Rating: ****
Name: Kelly |
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The novel centers on the Price family who travels from Georgia to the
African Congo in order to do missionary work. The book is told from 5
different points of view; Mrs. Price’s and her 4 daughters. Kingsolver did
a great job in making the voice of each character distinctive and unique.
This helped to portray the personalities of the Price women as well as to
provide a full circle picture of the Price family’s journey into the
Congo. The work was descriptive and moving, thus it pulled me, as the
reader, into the world of the Congo. My main complaint about the book is
with its length, especially toward the end. I felt that the book could
have ended long before it did, yet Kingsolver’s choice to follow the aging
Price women, helped the book achieve a full circle ending.
10.2005 |
