Summer Reading Abounds
Sky Pioneer
Amelia Earhart was born in Kansas and she had a little sister named Muriel. Amelia and her sister lived with her grandparents. In 1908 her parents moved and asked if Amelia and her sister wanted to join. They move to Iowa.
Amelia went to college in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. She became a surgeon. She would often stay and watch planes take off from the airfield. That was when she knew she wanted a plane. She bought one in 1921. She was the first woman to fly over the Atlantic Ocean and then the Pacific ocean in 1932 and 1933.
She attempted to fly around the world. She made it from Oakland California to Lea New Guinea but then her plane disappeared. I liked this book because it is like a mystery because they don't know what happened to her.
Amelia Earhart was born in Kansas and she had a little sister named Muriel. Amelia and her sister lived with her grandparents. In 1908 her parents moved and asked if Amelia and her sister wanted to join. They move to Iowa.
Amelia went to college in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. She became a surgeon. She would often stay and watch planes take off from the airfield. That was when she knew she wanted a plane. She bought one in 1921. She was the first woman to fly over the Atlantic Ocean and then the Pacific ocean in 1932 and 1933.
She attempted to fly around the world. She made it from Oakland California to Lea New Guinea but then her plane disappeared. I liked this book because it is like a mystery because they don't know what happened to her.
FM
S.O.R. Losers
S.O.R. Losers by Avi is a funny fiction tale about a seventh grade soccer team. The South Orange River School has a rule - Everyone must play at least one team sport every year and their motto is, "Everybody plays. Everybody wins." For Ed and his friends that motto is not really helping. These boys have never played sports before in their lives and never thought they would. And then, the coach chooses Ed to be the goalie and captain just because he is the tallest. They lose their first game 32 to 0, and it doesn't get much better from there. In their final game they play another team who hasn't won a single game either. Can they win or will they try to have fun in their last game? I recommend this book to any soccer players or sports fans. It is a quick book, but good and interesting. Read this book and "meet a bunch of losers who are the biggest winners around!"
GA
GA
Where the Sidewalk Ends
I read “Where the Sidewalk Ends”, by Shel Silverstein. There are many silly poems in the book. My favorite poem is “Smart”. It is about a kid who thinks he is so smart. When his Dad gives him a dollar bill he swaps it for two quarters, thinking two quarters is worth more than one dollar. He keeps making trades like that until he only has five cents left.( He has no sense!) At the end of the poem his Dad couldn’t even comment on his son.
ZF
The B.F.G.
The B.F.G. is a book about an orphan girl named Sophie. One night Sophie can’t fall asleep and she sees a shadow with a case and horn. Sophie sees the shadow blow something through the horn and into an open window. While Sophie saw the shadow the shadow saw her, and the next thing knows she is in a giant’s pocket and is on her way to giant country. When she gets to giant country Sophie learns about the giants and how they bully the B.F.G. and eat children and the B.F.G. does not think it’s right. Like most of Roald Dahl’s books it has a lesson. In this book I think the lesson is to not bully people because there will be a bad consequence.
The B.F.G. is a book about an orphan girl named Sophie. One night Sophie can’t fall asleep and she sees a shadow with a case and horn. Sophie sees the shadow blow something through the horn and into an open window. While Sophie saw the shadow the shadow saw her, and the next thing knows she is in a giant’s pocket and is on her way to giant country. When she gets to giant country Sophie learns about the giants and how they bully the B.F.G. and eat children and the B.F.G. does not think it’s right. Like most of Roald Dahl’s books it has a lesson. In this book I think the lesson is to not bully people because there will be a bad consequence.
Andrew wanted freckles. Nicky had them. He had millions of them. Andrew would always stare at them in class, not paying attention to anything else. Andrew`s teacher would sometimes ask if he was listening. “Yes, Mrs. Kelly”, he would always reply.
One day, at the end of the day, Andrew asked Nicky how he got freckles. He was born with them is what he said. Andrew had almost lost hope until Sharon told him she had a secret recipe for getting freckles, but it would cost Andrew 50 cents. Thats 5 whole weeks of allowance! However, Andrew was desperate, so he agreed. The next day Andrew arrived with 50 cents and Sharon arrived with the recipe. Sharon and Andrew then made the exchange. Andrew was so excited that when school was over he ran home and made the recipe. The recipe included:
Grape juice
Vinegar
Mustard
Mayonaise
Juice from 1 lemon
Pepper
Salt
Ketchup
Olive oil
1 speck of Onion
The recipe looked disgusting but if he was going to get freckles from it then it was worth drinking it.
He gulped the freckle juice down and felt sick afterward. He started to doubt that he would actually get freckles. The next morning he looked in the mirror. Still no freckles. He couldn’t go to school without freckles! So with a blue magic marker he drew freckles on his face. All the kids laughed at him, but he didn’t care. At the end of the day, Mrs. Kelly asked Andrew to use her magic freckle remover (which was really just a wipe). Andrew did what she asked and used the wipe. He soon found out he didn’t need freckles. The truth is, he didn’t even look great with them! Andrew would never try to get freckles again.
LL
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Fantastic Mr. Fox is about three men who want to kill a fox. The men wanted to kill the fox because the fox was stealing their chickens. One day Mr. Fox said to his children and wife I will go steal some chickens. Ok said Mrs. Fox. Mr. Fox went to go get the chickens and the three men were waiting with guns. POW!, the guns went off and Mr. Fox’s tail got shot. Help me I’m bleeding says Mr. Fox. Mrs. Fox and their children heard the gunshot and went to help him.
To learn more about what happens you need to read the book. I recommend reading this book because it has non stop action and great story telling.
DA
The BFG
The BFG was about a girl named Sophie who saw a giant through her window in the orphanage. At first, she did not know what it was until the giant picked her up by her neck and dragged her through the window. Sophie was scared but the giant said I won’t eat you. I am a big friendly giant. Sophie and the giant become good friends. One night the giant tells her about nine other giants that were eating people in England. Sophie was mad because she did not want kids getting killed every night.
I recommend this book because it is funny and weird how the BFG started their relationship. The best part of this book is what happens when they start drinking the frobscottle.
DA
Inside Out & Back Again
This book is about a girl named Ha who lived in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. It is a poetry book that teaches you about life in Vietnam. Ha has to leave Vietnam because her town was going to be bombed. A cowboy and his wife help Ha and her brothers and mom move to a ranch in Mississippi. When living in the United States, she misses her dad who died in the war and is picked on in school because she was Vietnamese.
I recommend this book because it teaches you how hard moving is, but even though you move into a new place, it is only home when you think it is home.
The BFG
The BFG was about a girl named Sophie who saw a giant through her window in the orphanage. At first, she did not know what it was until the giant picked her up by her neck and dragged her through the window. Sophie was scared but the giant said I won’t eat you. I am a big friendly giant. Sophie and the giant become good friends. One night the giant tells her about nine other giants that were eating people in England. Sophie was mad because she did not want kids getting killed every night.
I recommend this book because it is funny and weird how the BFG started their relationship. The best part of this book is what happens when they start drinking the frobscottle.
DA
Inside Out & Back Again
This book is about a girl named Ha who lived in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. It is a poetry book that teaches you about life in Vietnam. Ha has to leave Vietnam because her town was going to be bombed. A cowboy and his wife help Ha and her brothers and mom move to a ranch in Mississippi. When living in the United States, she misses her dad who died in the war and is picked on in school because she was Vietnamese.
I recommend this book because it teaches you how hard moving is, but even though you move into a new place, it is only home when you think it is home.
DA
The BFG
Sophie is a thoughtful eight-year-old girl who shows her true colors throughout this book. When Sophie gets whisked away to Giant Country she is frightened. She could have told the nine belly-fluttering giants that if they let her go she wouldn’t tell the world about them. But she didn’t, she knew that would mean the BFG wouldn’t have the chance to explain to Sophie why he took her. When the BFG shows Sophie the repulsant food snozzcumbers, Sophie tries to think up a plan to help the BFG. When she thinks up the plan she is not just thinking about her starving self, she is fully thinking about the BFG. Sophie especially shows thoughtfulness when she hears that the nine bad giants are all going to England to gulp down some kids. She is disgusted that the giants don’t even stop to think about how short these kids’ lives will be. Being thoughtful and all, Sophie comes up with a plan to save the world from those rotten giants.
The BFG is a humble giant. He is shows most of his personality through his talking. Like when he talked to Sophie about the dreams he caught he said it very straightforwardly, but didn’t brag about how amazing he was at catching dreams. And when the BFG has a chance to speak about the giants didn’t spend the whole time talking about himself. He talks about what was important and a few details and then he says stuff about the other giants. Also when Sophie complimented the BFG he was always very flustered and jolly. The BFG’s humbleness payed off and he lived very happily after that according to the story.
Fleshlumpeater is super selfish. When he does something he doesn’t think about what will happen to other people or things around him. Like when he bullies the BFG he is not thinking that now the BFG is scared to come out of his cave to get some food other than snozzcumbers. Also when he went to England to eat the children he wasn’t thinking about the kids lives. To me Fleshlumpeater is the opposite of Sophie. Another thing that clearly shows this trait is when Fleshlumpeater woke up from the bad dream he started fighting with the giants instead of figuring out what happened. He doesn’t even care if he hurts his own “friends”. Without Fleshlumpeater’s selfishness The BFG wouldn’t be the good story that I read this Summer.
CK
“Miss Smith was not a nice person, but the bed she put us in was soft and clean, with smooth thin blankets and warm thicker ones.” P.43
As it says in this quote Miss Smith was not a nice person, but all the things that she did was kind. All the things she did, helped Ada (the main character) figure out how it felt to be wrapped up in warm arms. Miss Smith was not a nice person, but she knew how to make people feel welcome so she decided to make Ada and Jamie feel welcome. I think this shows that even if you’re not a nice person you still have an instinct triggered by guilt. That instinct is to have pity and maybe to do something. Don’t judge a man by his face.
“I wanted Mam to be like Susan. I didn’t trust Susan not to be like Mam.” P.184
If you don’t know anything about this book and you just read this one book, a lot was just revealed. Ada is feeling that she is torn between her own birth mother and somebody who is just taking care of her, because of the war. Even if her mom was mean and smacked her it was hard to trust Susan. You could tell Ada barely trusted her in the beginning, because whenever Susan got made and made a movement with her arm, Ada thought Susan was going to hit her. There is a wanting that Ada has for both of her guardians.
“A strange and unfamiliar feeling ran through me. It felt like the ocean, like sunlight, like horses. Like love. I searched my mind and found the name for it. Joy.” P.316
Ada has felt a lot of things in her life, but this wonderful feeling has never shown itself to her. There’s a big difference between the feelings that Ada has felt and this joy. The feelings or emotions that Ada had felt was always something that made her unhappy like hate, fright, and anger. Joy is something that lasts forever in some way. Ada did not realize all of this at once, but she got some kind of clue that made her realize she loved this feeling. When Ada continued her journey and persevered she uncovered something more than just being happy.
CK
Liar And Spy
Georges (the s is silent) is a kid in seventh grade. He lives in New York and in the beginning he was just about to move to a different apartment building. Safer is a boy who lives in Georges’ apartment building. He is supposedly a spy with his little sister Candy. Candy is a girl who loves candy. Candy and Safer have never been to school. All of the book happens in New York and some of it is placed in Georges’ school. All of the characters have one trait in common, they’re all unique.
Georges has just moved to a new building and he is being pressured at school, because of bullies. Not to mention, but Georges’ mom is in the hospital. Then Georges meets Safer and Candy. Safer is in this mission to make Georges a perfect spy. Than Safer introduces the enemy in the mission: Mr. X. The mission gets serious, so serious they have to break into their enemy’s house! Then something happens during the mission that might stop Georges and Safer’s friendship forever. Georges finally gets to know the feeling of true friendship with the Blue Team. In the end will Georges forgive Safer or will they both lose friendship in a sad way.
I liked Liar & Spy a lot, because you can see Rebecca Stead’s personality through the words. I would recommend this book or any other Rebecca Stead book for third to fifth graders. This book also shows the importance of being loved and having a true, strong friendship. Liar & Spy transforms your heart so that you can see the true meaning of the book, but you have to read the book and hear the specific way it’s presented. Reading this book has changed my way of seeing things.
CK
