Monday, November 29, 2010

Hatchet


HATCHET. by GARY PAULSEN


Hatchet is about a boy named Brian. He is a thirteen year old boy who was traveling to Canada to go to his dad's house, but then the pilot had a heart attack. Brian had to take over the plane. Brian remembers the ride to the airport with his mother and how she tried to talk to him about what had happened. Before he leaves to the plane she gives him a present she has bought him for the trip. It is a hatchet. He then knows he must crash he see a lake and tries to land there, so he could get water if he was staying there long. When he's going down to the lake he flies off course and into the lake he swims to land thinking about why his mother and father are divorced. But he realizes he must get over that to survive. He awakens at early morning in a panic because it seems so dark. He is in pain all over, bruised and cramping with a sharp throb in his head. However, nothing seems shattered or broken or even sprained that badly, bruised. He thinks for a moment about the pilot still strapped in his seat at the bottom of the lake, but his thoughts continue to be disjointed. It takes him an hour or two to adjust to where he is, but he comes vividly awake when the mosquitoes begin to attack. They attack in such masses that his eyes are soon swollen shut, and he can only protect himself with his torn jacket . As the story goes on Brian becomes a man by thinking and surviving by himself and he has learned to forgive.

“If you keep walking back from good luck, he thought, you’ll come to bad luck.”

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

The Dead Room

"The Dead Room" was a really good book. Filled with lots of twists and an unbelievable, satisfying ending.
This story start with a women named, Leslie MacIntyre. Who is an anthropologist, with a gift. A year before the story takes place Leslie and her fiancé, Matt, were in a tragic "accident" that took place at the couple's home. Which kills Matt.
A year later Leslie ( after facing death) gets a gift which she thinks it's a curse. She has the gift of communicating with the dead! She uses this Gift to communicate with the dead and talk to them and find their bodies which are in prisoned in the ground.
Readers should read this book if they like mystery, drama, and ghost! But readers who are easily frighted and disturbed should not read this book. I recommend this book to anyone with a taste for suspense!

Monday, November 22, 2010


The Moon of Two Dark Horses
The Moon of Two Dark Horses is about Chooshmoo an Indian boy during the Revolutionary War and Daniel an English settler. They're attempting to stop the Revolution by finding a black locust tree and freeing the Indian and white man fighting inside. If they fail the Nation will plunge into war and their neutral tribe will have to join the white mans' war one way or another.

"If I knew where to die I would look at you and not be afraid we would die together. I had no idea that words could be tested, tried" said Coshmoo.

Personally I would not recommend this book, it bounces point of view without warning and is almost just thrown together with very little structure.

The Mysterious Benedict Society

Reynie Muldoon is no ordinary child. He lives in an orphanage in a city called Stonetown. He was an orphan. Reynie didn't like to do the things that ordinary boys his age like to do. Reynie liked reading the newspaper and solving puzzles. He and his tutor (Miss Perumal)had one of their ordinary days, drinking tea and reading the newspaper. Miss Perumal and Reynie noticed an Ad in the paper that said, "Are you a gifted child looking for a special opportunity?" Reynie then found himself in a building taking a test. He passed it. Reynie moved on to the second test. He met two kids his age a girl named Kate Wetherall who always carried around a red bucket that had all the tools that she needed and a boy named George Washington but went by Sticky. Sticky knew everything, thats why his name is Sticky because everything sticks to his brain. All three of them had passed both tests, but there was one more. In the end, all three passed the test. Later they were told that they were now on a mission. They later found out that they were working for a man named, Mr. Benedict. Their mission was to go to a private school, and solve a mystery that has been haunting Stonetown for a while. But there was one more person involved. A young girl named Constance Contraire. Constance liked to make up rhymes. When they all met together, the four of them decided to name their group, "The Benedict Society." They were to set off to the school the next day.
After they arrived at school, they noticed fishy things going on. Constance and Kate always got in trouble, and Reynie and Sticky always got rewarded. Their were workers that acted different.
Later the Benedict Society discovered that the boss of the school had a brain washing machine. Find out what happens in the end!

A quote from the book that I liked was when Kate said, "I've tried to get people to call me Kate the Great Weather Machine! But they never do......"

I really like the series! I like mysteries, and these are mysteries. And even if you don't like mystery books, you should read the series. It is one of my favorite books! The Mysterious Benedict Society reveals a lot! Once you get into it more, you wont be able to put it down till your finished! So I hope you will read these books!
the mysterious benedict society - books-to-read photo

Friday, November 19, 2010

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone


I have read this book many times, and it is a good book. In the beginning of the book Harry's parents die. He is sent to live with his mean aunt and uncle. While he lives there they don't care for him and only love their son. When he is about 12 he receives a letter that says he has been chosen to go to Hogwarts. He accepts and has no idea there is such thing as magic. When he arrives he meets two new friends their names are Ron, and Hermione. Together they go through many adventures. At the end of the book he goes face to face with Voldemort (the bad guy). Of course he defeats him and continues to live. I would recommend this book to everyone it is awesome!

Monday, November 15, 2010

The witch of Blackbird Pond.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond, by Elizabeth George Speare.

The witch of Blackbird Pond is about a girl named Kit who moved to Connecticut with her Aunt,Uncle, and Cousins from Barbados because her grandfather died. On her journey there she meets two men who she becomes friends with. She arrives at her aunts house unexpectedly to move in with them. Kit has a hard time fitting in. Connecticut is different than Barbados and she finds that out while she is there. They dress differently, act differently, and expect a lot from her.
She kind of messes things up too. One of the times she messes something up she goes to this field and just lays there. This old women comes and is very nice to her and invites her over. After Kits visit she goes home and her aunt and cousins tell her to never go there again because they think she is a witch. People think very badly of this old women and judges her by her house and because she never goes to church. Kit grows a friendship with the old women and after a while people notice she is hanging out with this old lady and then accuses her and the old women of witchcraft.
If you like books based on what they did long ago and like learning about people back then, then you will definatly like this book. It has a good message and is fun to read.

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac


Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac is an novel about a teenager named Naomi. Naomi (Nomi) who had been adopted after being found in a typewriter case in Russia by people who traveled, wrote books about where they traveled, and took pictures of them.

Nomi, now the co-editor (Her friend Will was the other) of the school newspaper, began to take pictures too for the newspaper and the yearbook. When Will and her were arguing over which one of them needed to go back to the office to get the camera, they decided to settle this with a coin toss. Naomi as heads and Will as tails. Naomi ended up having to go back for it and as she was coming back out of the building she fell down the stairs, hitting her head making her forget everything past 6th grade.

I really thought this book was amazing even though i don't really go for the "it could happen one way or another" type books. But this was a book i couldn't put down. I think if you like ANY kind of book you will like this. I know I did and i didn't think I would.

"Above all mine is a love story. And like most love stories, this one involves chance, gravity, a dash of head trauma. It began with a coin toss. The coin came up tails; I was heads. Had it gone my way, there might not be a story at all. Just a chapter or a sentence in a book whose greater theme had yet to be determined. Maybe this chapter would have had the faintest whisper of love about it, but maybe not. Sometimes a girls needs to lose." The page before "I was"

Granted this may be a love story but its not a mushy gushy "You are my soul mate" story. It's better then a love story...

Monday, November 1, 2010

Stranger With My Face by Lois Duncan

Stranger With My Face is a book about a girl named Laurie Stratton who lives with her parents, her brother Neal, and her sister Megan. Her life was perfect, perfect boyfriend, perfect house, perfect everything. But something isn't right. He boyfriend swears he saw her out on the beach with another boy when she was in bed sick. Her parents thought she had come home from school when she hadn't and her little sister "saw" her floating by her bedroom window. "I bent closer to examine the contours of the bone structure, the olive complexion, the thick fringe of lashes lying motionless against the smooth cheek might well have been my own." page 220 1st paragraph 2nd sentence.
I would recommend this book to the people who like fast paced mystery type novels. It's not for the people who can't be unrealistic. You have to be able to understand the story. Over all this is now one of my favorite books. It's well written and easy to understand. I think that honestly whether you hate non-fiction or love non fiction you will like this book.