Whatever After

           

Whatever After is a great series written by Sarah Mlynowski. Whatever After is about a ten year old girl named Abby who focuses a lot in and out of school and loves fairytales. Her seven year old brother Jonah loves ketchup, climbing, and does not pay attention to fairytales. They have a magic mirror in their basement that only they know about.

 Maryrose is a fairy who lives inside the mirror. Any random day at midnight, she lets Abby and Jonah in the mirror after they knock three times.

 On the first knock, the mirrors starts to hiss. On the second knock, the mirror turns purple, and on the third knock, the mirrors sucks in everything, including them and they land in a fairytale. They never get to see Maryrose, but they know she's there because after their first journey, she spoke to them. The mirror brings Abby and Jonah into any fairytale and it could be any fairytale there ever was. 

If they want to go back home, they have to find a way out by trying to find an object that will bring them in. The problem is,the object can be anything! Before getting out of the fairytale, Abby and Jonah usually mess things up or try to fix them. In the end, they always find a way out. 

One time, they got sucked into Beauty and the Beast. That was one story! Everything there is named for what it is or how people look. Abby and Jonah have to make Beauty (you probably know her as Belle) fall in love with the beast. Apparently, you cannot force love like how Abby was doing it. A lot of wacky events happened and Abby got. . . .  well I’ll let you find out yourself!

You could say the series is called Whatever After because in the end, it is not happily ever after, it's whatever after! This series is great for kids who love fairy tales and adventure because that is what this series is all about! Whatever After is totally worth your time!

                                                                                                                                    By:

                                                                                                                                            Layla

 The first book in the series!

Hatchet

                                                                   Hatchet 

Hatchet is a great book that is based on something similar that happened to the author,Gary Paulsen. It is about a bush plane, CESSNA 406, that crashed into the Canadian wilderness after the pilot had a heart attack. Aboard was Brian Robeson, a 13 year old boy who was on his way to visit his father in Canada after a recent divorce. Brian was left to fly the plane with the little knowledge he had of flying from the pilot before the heart attack. When Brian lands the plane, or more like dive the plane, into the lake, he is grateful to have his only tool he had with him, a hatchet. When he got up to the surface he saw an overhang which he used for shelter and he used the lake for drinking water.  

Using his hatchet, Brian made a fish spear to catch and kill fish from the lake. Also, Brian made a lot of useful items to help survive. He survived a moose attack and a tornado. After the tornado, the tail of the plane came up and Brian built a raft to get the survival pack. When Brian finally got the survival pack, he turned on the emergency transmitter and left it on. While it was on, a plane overhead heard and landed on the lake. The pilot rescued Brian after he was there for 54 days.

Hatchet is a great book for kids who like action and an adventure because there is a lot of action and the story is an adventure.

                                                                                                                                        - Layla A.

El Deafo

El Deafo by  Cece Bell:

Rating: ***** 

Characters: Cece Bell, Martha Ann, Ginny, Mike Miller, Laura

Recommendation: Someone who likes graphic novels, books about friendship and autobiographies 

Cece Bell is a girl who gets very sick when she is four, and becomes deaf. When she goes to kindergarten she goes to one where everyone is just like her: Deaf! Unfortunately, over the Summer she moves to a town where no one is like her, and she has to wear a giant hearing aid called a Phonic Ear so she can hear the teacher better. She makes a ‘friend’ named Laura who is really bossy, and when Cece goes over Laura's house she lets her dog bite Cece! After that, Cece decides it's best not to be friends with Laura but luckily she meets a girl named Ginny who is a really good friend but over exaggerates her words and speaks loudly which actually makes her harder to understand.  When Cece goes to fourth grade she makes a really good friend named Martha who is in the third grade. They are really good friends and when a new kid moves on, Cece is excited. His name is Mike Miller and they are in the same class, when they start fifth grade! Cece hurts her eye, and Martha blames herself. Cece has a lot of adventures through elementary school ,and you can read all about them in this awesome book! 

                                       

 

Gaby, Lost and Found

                                              Gaby,Lost and Found

Gaby, Lost and Found is a great book by Angela Cervants and it is about a girl named Gaby Ramirez Howard who's mother has been deported back to Honduras and now, Gaby is living with her father who isn't there for her because of his job. Gaby, goes to a private school and when her class gets to help out at a shelter Gaby is beyond excited, but when Gaby kidnaps, well more like catnaps, one of the cats named Feathers who lives at the shelter....

                                                 What Will Happen??

                                 Read Gaby, Lost and Found to find out!

                                                                                                                   By,

                                                                                                                      Layla A.

    

                

13 Gifts by Wendy Mass

                       13 Gifts

                             Review by: Colleen M.

When Tara gets suspended from the last two weeks of school she gets sent to the little town of Willow Falls for the summer.  On the train ride there she loses her brand new phone, $200, and her mom's I-pod.  When Tara gets there she steals one of her uncle's comic books to sell.  When she tries to sell it to mysterious Angelina.  Somehow Angelina knows she stole it and makes her do a job for her or she would tell Tara's uncle.  Tara has no choice. She is soon given a list of strange items to find around Willow Falls. She meets new friends that help out but, what happens when Tara turns in her items?  Read to find out!

           There are no coincidences in Willow Falls!

Five Stars

357 Pages

Mark of Athena

Mark of Athena

Mark of Athena was a great book. It was about a group of demigods that are a quest to stop the giants from taking over the world.

In the beginning of the book the Greek demigods go to New Rome to make peace with the Roman demigods. But, Leo gets taken over by a monster that shoots New Rome and gets the Romans mad and they attack the Greeks. Then the seven demigods go all over the U.S. searching for clues while the Romans follow them. After that they travel across the Atlantic to Rome, they split up. Annabeth goes to follow the Mark of Athena while Leo, Frank and Hazel go looking for Hazel's brother Nico. Piper, Jason and Percy also go looking for Nico. Annabeth goes through obstacles.She finds the statue she is looking for but it is being guarded. Leo, Frank, and Hazel walk into a trap while Piper, Jason, and Percy find Nico but have to battle giants. They defeat them and go to find Annabeth.
By Aarav S.

The Mark of Athena Book Review

The Mark of Athena

By Rick Riordan

Book Review by 

Billy S.

Fiction

574 Pages

Setting: Rome

Main Characters:     Annabeth Chase, Frank Zhang, Percy Jackson, Piper McLean, Leo Valdez, Nico di Angelo, Hazel Levesque, Gleeson Hedge, and Jason Grace.

Plot: Annabeth Chase gets a gift from her mother -Athena- who gives her one command: “Follow the Mark of Athena. Avenge me.” And she is already overwhelmed by the prophecy that will send seven demigods on a quest to find, and close the doors of death.

I recommend this book to anyone who likes mythology, or likes to read about magical stuff and fantasy.

The Lost Hero Book Review

     The Lost Hero is a really good book. It is about three demigods who go on a quest to save the gods of Olympus. 

   

The genre is a mix of fantasy and mythology, along with some adventure. There are 554 pages in total. The main setting is Camp Half-Blood. The main characters are Jason, Piper, and Leo. The main problem is that the gods have closed down Mount Olympus so no outsiders can get in. Does this have anything to do with Jason, Piper, and Leo? Can they survive the quest without any training or backup? Meanwhile, at the Wilderness school, Jason doesn't have a single clue why, where, or even who he is! Apparently, he has a girlfriend named Piper and his best friend’s name is Leo. Also, a girl named Piper is confused because suddenly, her boyfriend doesn't remember her. At the same time, Leo’s life gets turned upside down when a freak storm hits the Wilderness school and releases Venti. His best friend Jason doesn't remember him. Does this have anything to do with his mother’s death years before? Read the book to find out all the answers to these questions!

     The type of reader who might enjoy this book is someone who cannot stop reading a book once they get hooked onto it, because it’s very addicting. Also someone who has a long attention span (because it’s pretty long) and lastly, someone who likes to read about Greek mythology.
By Yianni S.