Ever

By: Gail Carson Levine

 

"Fate...may...be...thwarted."

  I love Ever, it's an amazing story about love and sacrifice. It has romance, mystery, suspense, and fantasy. This book is definitely something I would want to read over and over again. Kezi is going to be sacrificed to her god Admat, and Olus is the Akkan god of wind. They must find a way to be together no matter what.

 

 Kezi is a beautiful mortal, dancer, and rug weaver who is going to be a sacrifice to her god Admat. Olus is a goatherd and the Akkan god of wind is immortal. When Kezi and Olus fall in love and go on a journey to change her fate and see if they can turn her immortal. And Kezi searches for the truth she has always believed in Admat, but now she knows there are more than thirty other gods; is there really an Admat? Will they be able to make her immortal before her sacrifice, and will she live when she is sacrificed?

 

Kezi is so nice, she is a great dancer and an amazing rug weaver. She will do anything to help her family. She lives in the city of Hyte in about the time of ancient Greece with her Mom (Mati), Dad (Pado), and their servant Nia. Also Olus is a goatherd and the god of wind, but he also says he is the god of loneliness. He tried to make a friend before he met Kezi he tried to make friends with a mortal by named Kudiya, and it didn't turn out so well. His best friends are his goats, and he spends most of his time riding his winds and in his field with his goats.

 

This book is one my favorites and I hope it will be for whoever reads it next. I would recommend this Ever to about ten and up. I couldn't put it down when I read it, and I held onto every word. This story is told in both Olus' and Kezi's perspective, so you know what they are both doing. I loved this book and I think whoever reads it next will like it too.



 

 Happy, Happy, Happy

By: Phil Robertson

In this book called Happy, Happy, Happy Phil Robertson talks about how he grew up and how many people are in his family and things like that.  Phil has multiple brothers and no sisters and they have no idea what technology is.  This book talks about how Phil grew up and that the only brother in his family who did not get a college degree was Si Robertson his little brother.  If you have seen the T.V. show Duck Dynasty then you know who Si is.  Happy, Happy, Happy is a very funny book and it is cool to learn about how he grew up with no technology and hands on activities like chopping wood, pulling weeds etc.  Most people did not know that Phil Robertson was a quarterback at Louisiana Tech and one of the best quarterbacks ever was Phil Robertson's back up.  But Phil could have got to go to a professional team but he said, "If I went to the pro's then I wouldn't have enough time to duck hunt." So that is what made Phil Robertson not go to the pro's. 

This book is a great book  I liked it a lot.  If you like Duck Dynasty the show then you will like this book and why Phil does not have anything that is technology.  I would recommend this book mostly for boys but cause it is about hunting and killing animals, which most girls don't like.  But there are some girls who would like it so.  If you like comedy then you should watch the show called Duck Dynasty.  

I hope that everyone will read this book it is a great book it is funny and it teaches how other people that don't have much money, how they live and they cook everything by themselves and skin everything by themselves after they catch it. 

   

"The Invention of Hugo Cabret"

by: Brian Selznick

This book is about a boy named Hugo Cabret who lives in Paris, France, and his father owns a clock repairing business. Hugo loves learning and learns a lot watching his father repair clocks, but one day his father returns home telling Hugo about something Hugo has never heard of before, An automaton! the automaton is something that his father had found in the attic of a museum,it winds up and then it writes a message. But it's broken. So Hugo's father tries to fix it, over the weeks of trying to fix the automaton, he builds an obsession over the automaton so he works on it all night. And during the day Hugo's father works at the clock shop. One night a fire starts in the museum and blazes into the attic, with no way to escape, Hugo's father is engulfed in the flames.
 Hugo, later finds out his father was killed in the museum fire, so he finds the museum and looks for the automaton. He finds it and keeps it. He is adopted by his uncle and taken to his uncles apartment above the train station. His uncle keeps the clocks in the station working. Hugo watches his uncle lubricate the clocks and soon, Hugo becomes his uncles apprentice. Hugo's uncle randomly disappears and so Hugo starts to work on the automaton. He steels little machanacle parts to work on the automaton from a toy booth in the train station. He gets caught and sooner or later meets a girl name Isabelle. The old man who owns the toy booth is Isabelle's godfather. Hugo completes the automaton then realizes that he need a key to wind it up. Then, he notices that his friend has a necklace with a key on it, and he knows instantly that the key on Isabelle's necklace, will fit perfectly. So he steels it to wind up the automaton.
 In his uncles apartment, Hugo winds up the automaton just as Isabelle bursts into his apartment and interrogates his about steeling he key. then they wind up the automaton and it draws a picture. Later they find out that the old man at the toy booth (Isabelle's godfather) was a famous movie director. Who made many movies before world war two.
I think that just about everyone would like it. it has a lot of things about it that makes you want to keep reading. I loved this book a lot. and its not very long, it just has tons of impressive pictures. I connect with the book because it had a lot of little hints that I would recognize.

"If you've ever wondered where dreams come from when you go to sleep at night, just look around. This is where they are made."
                                                       -Georges Melies   
 

Summer in Paris

           

 by: Michele Ashman Bell

Review By: Lauren Billings

           “I declared bankruptcy this morning. We’ve lost everything.” Kenzie’s father took a breath and then continued. “We have thirty days to auction off our belongings and move out of the house.” Kenzie whispered “Bankrupt,” her jaw dropped. How could this happen to her right now when she was having the best summer of her life! That word took power over her, no more chauffeurs and especially no more credit cards. “While we sort this out, we think it would be best if you stayed with your aunt and uncle in Paris.” Paris Kenzie thought. That wouldn’t be so bad! But wait…..her uncle didn’t live in Europe.  He lived in Idaho.” Michele Ashman Bell develops a very interesting and believable character of Kenzie Williams. 

               Kenzie Williams has it all: wealth, friends, popularity and talent. But when her father declares bankruptcy, her whole New York City world turns upside down. Her parents' solution, while they sort through their problems, is to send Kenzie to live out the summer with her relatives in Paris... Idaho! When Kenzie arrives in Idaho she is shocked to see her surroundings! Country, country, country!! She wakes up the next morning and puts on some of her aunt’s clothes because all she brought was designer clothes and goes downstairs. When she gets to the kitchen she is shocked to see what was for breakfast, oatmeal! Dancers can’t live on oatmeal. When she sits down at the table to eat her breakfast she is also surprised to see what is on the table in front of her. She looked up to find a list of chores with her name written at the top. After breakfast Kenzie’s  aunt teaches her how to do all the chores. Later that day she goes to the store with her aunt. A man that looks like he came from the mountains is sitting outside of the store. When her aunt comes out of the store she starts talking to him and soon after Kenzie and her cousin join her. When they get back into the car, Kenzie asks her who she was talking to? She answers, that was Josh……

            I can really connect this book to one of today’s biggest problems, debt. America has recently gone into even more debt because of the government shut down. To relate this to the book, Kenzie’s family had a little debt but as time went on they kept spending a lot of money that resulted in the family declaring bankruptcy.  As a result they had to sell everything they own to help pay off their debt. I can also relate this story to my life on a personal level.  Last year I broke my arm, twice. It was hard to accept this new reality for me because it changed everything about my life so drastically. The first drastic change was that I couldn’t go to dance class. I dance four to five hours a day and I couldn’t do any of it. I had spent countless hours training and perfecting solo and group routines that that now I would not be performing.  When I was finally able to dance again it was hard to get my head back in the game. I had a hard time doing lots of things because I hadn’t used my left arm in so long.  It felt strange completing dance moves that just months earlier, I had perfected.  I was worried about re-injuring myself again and starting the entire traumatic series of events over again.  Similarly,  Kenzie had a really hard time getting used to her environment from a big city to a farm.

            “This is a novel that will capture the imagination of teens everywhere, raves Rachel Ann Nunes, author of Saving Madeline. I couldn’t agree more.  I really love this book. It is a great realistic read. I love that it kept me wanting to read more of the book. I really like how the story came together.  It’s a good balance. It taught me the life lessons, to never give up because sometimes we have to do hard things that we think we won’t be able to do. When times get rough and we keep going, we can surprise ourselves when we are able to overcome difficulties.  It is through our difficulties that we find out who we really are and can be. I would highly recommend this book to any girl at Timberline Middle School, especially those who love realistic fiction.   

             

Review by Megan Bryce

       The book "Golden" is by Cameron Dokey. I think that Cameron Dokey is a great author, she has written many other books, that I loved, but I decided to do a review on this one because it was my favorite. most of her other books are all fairy tales, but with a little twist in it. Golden would especially be a great book for any girl, because it has a little humor and romance in it.

       Golden is about a girl that is born without any hair, but her mother doesn't want her so she gives her away to a sorceress that takes care of her as a mother. The little girls name is Rapunzel, and she grew up without any friends or hair her whole childhood. "That cat is not my friend, he is an acquaintance that follows me around", she says that the cat follows her around, but she wouldn't say that he was her friend because she wanted to feel more important than that.  Later when she is about sixteen, she discovers that the sorceress that raised her had a daughter and her name was Rue. Rue was trapped in a tower because a wizard cursed her there. I don't want to ruin it for you, so I will just say that Rue and Rapunzel go through some challenges to try to break the curse.
       Rapunzel is kind of a tom boy, she doesn't like to do girly things, she usually plays in the mud and acts kind of like a boy. The Sorceress is kind, she raises Rapunzel to be kind, she only wants what is best for her daughters, and she is really powerful with her spells, but not as powerful as the wizard that locks Rue up. Rue is a very girly princess, she isn't the nicest person, but she has manners. The Story mostly takes place in the sorceresses home and the tower that Rue is trapped in.

       I really liked this book, because there was a few different kinds of genres, there is romance, adventure and humor. I would recommend this book, it is told really well and it is a great story. My opinion is that it was good, others might think it is really slow and not very good, but I liked it a lot. It is more for girls, but I could also see a guy reading it and liking it.

      



Alcapone does my shirts

                  Al Capone does my shirts is a wonderful book filled with excitement, suspense and lots of fun. I would call this book fun with a little twist.

                 This book starts with a boy named Moose and his family move to Alcatraz the island which has the most protected prison system and very famous convicts including Al Capone. This island also has many other familys, and Moose becomes very close freinds with Piper, Theresa, Annie, and Jimmy. Piper is the wardens daughter but yet you always find her bending or breaking the rules. Well on the island the convicts have to do all of the laundry and make all the food, so Piper has the wonderful idea of having kids at school pay Piper to give there clothes to the convicts so they can say, "Al Capone washed my shirt." That doesn't end too well. After this incident many different things happen that will change you perspective on prison and convicts.

               In the book I would have to say that Natalie (Moose's older sister) is my favorite character. The thing is though that Natalie has a disorder, she does strange things but you have to love her. In the book Natalie and Moose's mom is trying to get Natalie into the Esther P. Maranof school to help Natalie. The only Problem is that Natalie is 16 but her mom pretends for 6 years after she turned 10 to keep her 10 forever, so that she can get into the school. In the book Natalie is very important, She may not seem so important at first but she is very important at the end.

             This story is a fiction book, because this story isn't true but the island Alcatraz is a real place with the most bad convicts. This book though isn't based on the convicts, its based on the life of family's who live a little different then you or me. I recomend this book to anyone because its gets you hooked right after the first chapter and I garentee you will not want to stop reading it. The ending of the book is defenatly the best part, but im not going to give it away... so what are you waiting for go read!

Hatchet

      Gary Paulsen

By: Eric Pedroza

     Hatchet is about a thirteen year old kid named Brain who is going on his way to visit his father. The plane he is in unexpectedly crashed and landed near a lake in Canada. He had nothing but a windbreaker and a hatchet his mother had gave him as a present. He thought he was going to die out there alone in the wild. All he kept on saying is "I'm Hungry." He found a bag back in the crashed plane that had a hatchet. That hatchet helps him as he made more tools to help him survive. He makes a bow and arrow to kill fish and other wild life so he can eat food. Winter is approaching soon and he needs to find a way to get help fast.

     Personally I think this is a good book. It is very interesting throughout the whole book. It keeps you on your feet thinking whats going to happen next. I haven't read a lot of books but when I read this one it was a really good book to me. I wouldn't of survived something like that if I was stuck in that situation. I think there was a lot of detail and great description in the book. Overall this is one of the best books I have read so far.

Catching Fire

Catching Fire is the sequel to Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games.
It starts out with Katniss Everdeen  and Peeta Mellark are going on a victory tour for both of them winning in the last years Hunger Games. This year is the 75th year of the Hunger Games, it is called a quarter quell. Every 25 years they do something different than the tradition of the Hunger Games. There have been only 2 other quarter quells, the first one instead of a tribute being picked at random to go in the games the district would vote for who would go. In the 2nd quarter quell they doubled the amount of kids going, so instead of 24, there was 48. This year is a very different year than both the other quarter quell. "The tributes are to be reaped on the existing pool of victors." In other words the people who are going into the Hunger Games are those who have won the previous ones.
The rest of the book is just what the 75th Hunger Games is and all of the chaos Katniss caused when she pulled out the berries in the previous Hunger games.

The setting takes place in the future United States of America, but is now called Panem. Panem is a dystopic society, with 12 districts and The Capitol. Katniss Everdeen and  Peeta Mellark both live in district 12. The poorest of the districts. All of the districts are forced to participate in The Hunger Games, the Capitol however, does not. The Capitol is royal, and have everything they need plus ten times more.

I recommend this book to anyone who has read the first book, The Hunger Games or anyone who loves action, romance, and bravery in books. This book is a little gory and should probably be read by 12 and up. But by far this is my favorite book of all time and I simply loved it.


"I wish I could freeze this moment, right here, right now, and live in it forever." -Peeta Mellark

Cinder

They took away her beautiful clothes
dressed her in an old gray smock,
and gave her wooden shoes.

To me this quote means that they took away what was special and beautiful of hers and gave her something dirty and useless that was not beautiful and was not special. They took way what was hers and gave her something with no value or worth to her.

     Cinder is a book filled with adventure and action, maybe with a little bit a romance. I would call it childish love but hey who am I to judge? 

This books starts out kind of fast from the beginning, I like to call it a hook. It "hooked" me from the very beginning and I loved it. This story if from a girls point of view(which helps me feel like I can relate to this story, like what she is thinking and doing. I could think of what I would do) who is not at all what she seems to be. The main character, Cinder, is a cyborg. She lives with a family that took her in there home because she was an orphan. Cinder has a best friend who works with her at her mechanic shop because Cinder is a very talented mechanic.

In her government it is ruled by a king, thus it is a kingdom. One day when Cinder is working, the prince comes and asks for her help. He needs her to fix his android and before the annual ball where he will be granted king. Well Cinder is working hard to fix this android while there is a disease going on. With all this confusion and worry going on Cinder has a million things to do! Read this really good book and see what Cinder has to do and what she does, the world is on the line and on the verge of war! Cinder is the key to fixing everything, but how? I guess you will have to see what she does and how she is important.

This story is a fairy tale with a whole lot of modern in it. There are people that live on the moon! They are called Lunars and they can control peoples minds, but there is an evil dictator that controls them and compels them to love her. And she will stop at nothing to stay ruler! Even kill her own blood line and incident Lunars and humans to do it! 

There are kings and Queens that live in kingdoms. Another thing about this story is it also has a lot of the future in it, there are cyborgs and these ipad type things that are used for communication, and games ha ha, I really think this book is for everyone! And I think girls can really relate to this book and love it!