Book Review #1

Wielage, Ryan

Book Review #1

Period 4

11-12-16

Harry Potter and The Cursed Child

J.K. Rowling / Jack Thorne / John Tiffany

Fantasy

pages : 320

Awards : None

Paragraph #1

                  

                  The novel, Harry Potter and The Cursed Child, by Jack Thorne, J.K Rowling, and John 

Tiffany, is a book that was based on a play in London. It starts off with Harry and his family, Ginny, 

Albus, Rose, and Harry Jr. They are at the train station getting prepared to go to Hogwarts, a school 

for witchcraft and wizardry. It is going to be Albus's and Rose's first year attending to Hogwarts 

school. Rose is very excited and happy to go to Hogwarts, but her brother Albus is scared and doesn't 

think he should go because he is afraid he might end up in a different house then his whole family has 

been in. There are four different houses, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, and Slytherin. Albus is 

afraid of this because he thinks instead of getting into Gryffindor, he might get into Slytherin instead. 

They get onto the train and soon they arrive at Hogwarts and they get to the main hall with the 

Sorting Hat and all the other students. The Sorting Hat assigns a particular person to the house they 

belong to. Rose is up first and she gets assigned to Gryffindor, her brother then out of the shock of 

everyone, is assigned to Slytherin. He later on becomes best friends with Scorpius Malfoy, Harry old 

arch-nemesis Draco Malfoy's son. A year later they come back to Hogwarts and there is a rumor 

spreading around about Scorpius Malfoy being the son of a Dark Lord. People were saying that they 

used a illegal object called the Time-Turner to take Scorpius mother back in time to Voldemort and 

have a baby, and supposedly the baby is Scorpius. Later on Albus and Scorpius come upon 

themselves a Time-Turner and try to figure out ways they can use it for good. They decide to use it to 

save Cedric Digory, a dead subject to Voldemort's wraith. They save him, but when they get back 

everything has changed. There is a new Hogwarts symbol, everyone is talking about Voldemort Day, 

and Scorpius has become known as the "king". He is called the "king" because because he is the 

"son" of Voldemort. A few weeks later Delphie, Cedric Digory's sister is corrupt and highly believes 

in Voldemort and tries to bring Voldemort back to life, but fails in doing so because of Scorpius and 

Albus.

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I thought this book was very interesting and entertaining throughout the whole book. It was always 

face paced and it was a kind of book where you were always in suspense of what would happen next 

and could almost never put down. One example I thought was the perfect one was when all the 

students were in the meeting hall and all the first years are getting sorted into their houses. You were 

just in suspense the whole time thinking what Albus's house would be, Gryffindor, the house his 

whole family has been in, or any other house. In the end Albus gets sorted into Slytherin and it was 

very shocking. Something I disliked in the book was not actually in the story, but in the format. 

Because it was based off a play the whole story is read like, Harry:......., next line, Albus:....... .

I also liked the ending because that brought a lot suspense in it as well. You didn't know if Delphie 

would bring Voldemort back to life or fail trying. I recommend other people reading this book 

because what I said in the beginning. It is very hard for you to get bored with the story and was interesting throughout.

Khoury, Lorees 

Book Prompt #1 

English , Period 3

October 31, 2016

The Witch of Blackbird Pond 

Elizabeth George Speare 

Historical Fiction

249 pages 

Newbery Award 

 

  

  

  The Witch of Blackbird Pond is about a sixteen year old named Katherine (Kit) Tyler. Kit is from Barbados, living with her grandfather Sir Frances Tyler, now that her grandfather had died and had been arranged to marry and old man Kit travels to Wethersfield to live with her aunt Rachel Wood and her uncle Matthew Wood. They have two girls Kits cousins, Mercy, a cripple, and Judith Wood. Kit meets Nathaniel (Nat) Eaton the captains son on the ship ride, but she befriends his mother more rather than him. Kit found Wethersfield boring and dull the endless church sermons. Of course made Kit’s stay there even more worse than it already was the work was enough to deal with. Kit later helps Mercy by teaching the Dame School with her, Kit trying to do something new toys to have the kids act out one of the stories from the bible. Everything goes wrong when one of boys start to literally beat up the other. Mr. Kimberley comes in an angry at what he saw and let Kit go from her job. Kit was crying because she thought she had let down and disappointed Mercy. That is when Kit runs off to the Meadows, where she meets and befriends Hannah Tupper an old women who has been accused of witchcraft in the past and is a Quaker. Kit finally got her job back at the Dame School by gathering courage to talk to Mr.Kimberley. Kit had also befriended a girl named Prudence, a tiny girl who’s being abused by her mother. Kit later introduced her to Hannah and Nat, who was has befriended Hannah since he was eight, and gave her one on one lessons. Judith sets her eye on John Holbrook an student of Gersholm Bulkeley and who is in love with Mercy. Kit is being fancied by William Ashby a rich young man, already building a house for him and his future wife. A plague falls over Wethersfield causing children to get very sick with already three deaths. The town people blame Hannah and Kit of witchcraft, when Kit hears that they’re going after Hannah she escapes to the Meadows to help her escape. Hannah escaped with Nat on father’s boat the Dolphin. Kit however went to trial. Before it was proven guilty Prudence came with Nat. Prudence had evidence that Kit was not guilty and it worked. Prudence finally will get the treatment she deserves from her father. Mercy and John get married, as did Judith to William. Nat asks Kit to marry him which is the only way he wants to get her on his new boat The Witch


  I really enjoyed this book. I’ve always loved history especially American, the only fiction about it was the characters, not all though. This showed loyal friendship and how far a person is willing to go just for the friend. In the book Hannah was the only who ever asked about Kit’s grandfather and it meant so much to her. Kit willing to teach a abused girl who doubted her self mentally. How she saved Hannah escape with Nat and stayed behind even though Nat told to her come. That kind of friendship is hard to come by which is why I really enjoyed this book. How Judith liked John but ended up with William which is a better match and John being with Mercy. What I didn’t like about this book was the ending, it just leaves off Kit and Nat going Kit’s uncle house to ask permission for his blessing. I would recommend this book to those who like history, if you don’t then this book wouldn’t be, one you’d be interested in.

Psihalopoulos Stavros

Book Report 1

October 23,2016

English, period 4

                                             
Walk "Two Moons"
 Sharon Creech
 Mystery
 280pgs
1995 John Newbery Medal

1^st paragraph

                   The Novel "Walk Two Moons" is written by Sharon Creech, is about a thirteen-year-old girl named Salamanca Tree Hiddle. Her mother named her after an Indian tribe which her great-great-grandmother belonged too.  Most people called her Sal. She is determined to find her mother who left for Idaho and did not return.  Traveling from Ohio to Idaho with her grandparents, in search of her lost mother, Sal starts telling the story about Phoebe Winterbottom, who met a potential lunatic, received mysterious messages, and lost his mom. Beneath the story that Sal told, on the way to Idaho, is that her mom left to go to Idaho and hasn't returned. During the trip Sal had to drive her grandfather's car up a mountain. Her grandfather had to take care of her grandmother. Behind her, was a sheriff. The sheriff pulled her over and took her where her mom was. The sheriff told Sal that her mom was found dead on the mountain due to a bus crash. Then later that day Gramps wrote a note telling Sal where the motel was he was staying at. He told her that her grandmother had passed away at three o' clock in the morning. This was so sad for Sal. Sal and her grandfather flew back to Bybanks Kentucky where they lived on the farm. That is where they buried her grandmothers body in Aspen Grove where her grandparents were married.

2^nd paragraph   

                  Some of the things I liked about the book is the mystery of the disappearance of Sal's mother. I enjoyed reading about their road trip as Sal and her grandparents went looking for Sal's mother. The story told about Phoebe Winterbottom meeting a potential lunatic, which was scary and then finding the mysterious messages sent to them. The mysterious message said, " Don't judge a man until you've walked two moons in his moccasins". This related to the Phoebe story as well.Both of their mothers passed away. I didn't like the ending of the book because they found out that Sal's mom past away.  It got even sadder when Sal received a note saying where her grandpa was and that her grandma died at three o' clock in the morning. I related to this because my grandma is slowly dying from Alzheimers disease. Everyday I think what will happen to my grandma. I recommend this book, if you are into mystery and adventure, overall I do recommend the book for everyone.

Alexandra Turley

Book Review #1

Period 4

October 30, 2016

　

The Outsiders

S.E. Hinton
                                                                                                                                                                                                  Fiction
                                                                                                                                                                                                180 pages
                                                                                                                                                                                                        Margaret Edwards Award

　

             The novel, The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, is about a boy named Ponyboy Curtis and his struggles with feeling like an outsider. The boys are greasers, a term that means the boys on the East Side, the poor side of town. The greasers' enemies are the Socs, short for Socials, who are the West-side rich kids. It all starts with Ponyboy walking home from the movies and gets stopped by the Socs and is beaten pretty badly. Soon after his brothers and their friends come to the rescue and chase the Socs off. Ponyboy's only family are his two brothers, Darry and Soda because his parents died in a car accident. Darry is harder on Ponyboy than Ponyboy would like and Soda is more of the friendly, laidback brother. One night Ponyboy and his friend Johnny fell asleep in an empty lot. When he woke, he raced home to find Darry awake and waiting. Darry was furious, and in the anger of the moment slapped Ponyboy. Ponyboy ran back to lot with Johnny to get away from his brothers, then they see a group of Socs approuching. They hold Ponyboy under the water in the fountain. Johnny doesn't know what to do so he pulls out a switch blade and kills a Soc named Bob. Ponyboy and Johnny look for help from Dally in leaving to avoid being arrested for Bob's murder. He gives them $50 and a place to go outside of town. The boys get on a train and find the place where they wait until Dally comes to get them. Hiding in an abandoned church, they both cut their hair, and Pony dies his hair to not be recognized by the police. They pass the time in the church playing cards and reading out loud from "Gone With the Wind". Dally shows up after a week, and takes them to the Dairy Queen in Windrixville. Johnny decides that he has a batter chance now, and decides that he wants to turn himself in. They head back to the church and discover that it is on fire. A school group is there, on an outing, and little kids are trapped inside. Without thinking, Ponyboy and Johnny go inside and rescue the kids. As they are handing the kids outside to Dally, the burning roof collapses. Ponyboy almost didn't escape. A piece of wood fell on Johnny, burning him badly and breaking his back. The boys, now seen as heroes, are taken by an ambulance back to town, where Pony meets up with his brothers. Johnny died because his injuries were to severe, and Dally is so sad he then robbs a store and gets caught he is then shot by the police.


One of my favorite things in The Outsiders is how close all the boys are. An example of this was when Ponyboy was getting beaten up by the group of Socs and all the boys jumped in to help. Or when the Socs where drowning Ponyboy, Johnny even killed a man for him. I also think its amazing how they all know when enough is enough for eachother. By this I mean they all know what to say and what not to say. A few things I didn't like about this book was how their names were Ponyboy and Sodapop. I felt like I couldnt really get to know them because the names were unpersonal and to humorous to take seriously. Other than that I loved this book, it was so intense yet understandable. I dont really know how iI feel about the end of this book. I was so mad, and cried a little when Johnny died, but i knew something was going to happen to someone so I was somewhat okay with that. Except when Dally died out of the blue I was furious, at him and S.E. Hinton. I would recomend this book to readers because I am not someone that loves to read and I really liked this book. It was a lot to take in but not confusing. It also really teaches the value of friendship and doing whats wright is better than doing nothing at all. Here are some of my favorite quotes from the book because they really show how much they both cared for one another.,"You take up for your buddies, no matter what they do. When you're a gang, you stick up for the members. If you don't stickup for them, stick together, make like brothers, it isn't a gang any more. It's a pack. A snarling, distrustful, bickering pack like the Socs in their social clubs or the street gangs in New York or the wolves in the timber.",We're all we've got left. We ought to be able to stick together against everything. If we don't have each other, we don't have anything. If you don't have anything, you end up like Dallas, and I don't mean dead, either. I mean like he was before. And that's worse than dead."

Book Review

Huffman, Hailey

November 3, 2016

English, Period 4

 

Speak

Laurie Halse Anderson

Fiction

198 pages

National Book Award Finalist, Michael L. Printz Honor Book, Edgar Allan Poe Award Finalist, Los Angeles Time Book Prize Finalist, Winner of eight book awards, Finalist for eleven more

 

 

          The novel, Speak by Laurie Halse Andersdon, is about a girl named Melinda Sordino’s first freshmen year going horribly wrong. She went to a end-of-summer party where something really bad happened to her involving a boy named Andy so she called the cops, causing the party to be busted and also causing everyone to hate her. She was miserable and she always said she was guilty but little do her friends know, she called the cops for a different reason other than calling the cops about the party, which was what her friends thought she did. She’s avoided by everyone and is bullied harshly. She tries telling one of her friends about what happened at the party but she doesn’t believe Melinda, causing everyone to hate her more. But when she not only speaks, but shows the truth, everything changes.

           This book made me feel all of the emotions, like sadness, happiness, and even confidence because when Melinda gained confidence, so did I because it was really inspiring. When she finally told her friends about Andy, they didn’t believe her until Melinda punched Andy in the face and the whole school knew what really happened at the party. This book is very mature so I do not recommend to people who are immature because this book contains a lot of serious topics. The end of the book was amazing, although they did leave a little bit of a cliff hanger, because it gives the readers some time to imagine of what Melinda said to the teacher when her art teacher asked about everything that is going on with her life.

“I have survived. I am here. Confused, screwed up, but here. So, how can I find my way? Is there a chain saw of the soul, and ax I can take to my memories and fears?”

Psihalopoulos, Stavros
Book Report 1
October 23, 2016
English, period 4

Book Review Blog
Book Information
"Walk Two Moons"
 Sharon Creech
 Mystery
 280 pages
1995 John Newberry Medal

1^st paragraph

The Novel "Walk Two Moons" is written by Sharon Creech, is about a thirteen-year-old girl named Salamanca Tree Hiddle. Her mother named her after an Indian tribe which her great-great-grandmother belonged too.  Most people called her Sal. She is determined to find her mother who left for Idaho and did not return.  Traveling from Ohio to Idaho with her grandparents, in search of her lost mother, Sal starts telling the story about Phoebe Winterbottom, who met a potential lunatic, received mysterious messages, and lost his mom. Beneath the story that Sal told, on the way to Idaho, is that her mom left to go to Idaho and hasn't returned. During the trip Sal had to drive her grandfather's car up a mountain. Her grandfather had to take care of her grandmother. Behind her, was a sheriff. The sheriff pulled her over and took her where her mom was. The sheriff told Sal that her mom was found dead on the mountain due to a bus crash. Then later that day Gramps wrote a note telling Sal where the motel was he was staying at. He told her that her grandmother had passed away at three o' clock in the morning. This was so sad for Sal. Sal and her grandfather flew back to Bybanks Kentucky where they lived on the farm. That is where they buried her grandmothers body in Aspen Grove where her grandparents were married.

2^nd paragraph   

 Some of the things I liked about the book is the mystery of the disappearance of Sal's mother. I enjoyed reading about their road trip as Sal and her grandparents went looking for Sal's mother. The story told about Phoebe Winterbottom meeting a potential lunatic, which was scary and then finding the mysterious messages sent to them. The mysterious message said, " Don't judge a man until you've walked two moons in his moccasins". This related to the Phoebe story as well.Both of their mothers passed away. I didn't like the ending of the book because they found out that Sal's mom past away.  It got even sadder when Sal received a note saying where her grandpa was and that her grandma died at three o' clock in the morning. I related to this because my grandma is slowly dying from Alzheimers disease. Everyday I think what will happen to my grandma. I recommend this book, if you are into mystery and adventure, overall I do recommend the book for everyone.

Stevens, Faith

Book Prompt #1

English, Period 3

October 31, 2016

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas 

John Boyne

Historical Fiction

240 pages

Classic Novel

       The Boy in the Striped Pajamas written by John Boyne discusses about a nine-year-old boy named Bruno who comes home from school one day to his maid, Maria, packing his things in wooden crates. Bruno’s father got a promotion, so they had to move to Poland, Bruno does not like the idea of moving away from his friends but, he has no choice since his father was promoted to commandant. Once they get to the home it was not as exciting they thought it would be, in fact it was a little bit of a down grade. When Bruno got settled into his room he noticed a “farm” in the distance with people wearing “stripped pajamas” out his window. Bruno got bored so he asked a solder if he could make a tire swing, the solder yelled at a “farmer” and the “farmer” made him the swing, Bruno swung a little too high and fell off so the farmer helped him and bandaged him. The next day Bruno got bored and wanted to explore, so he went into the forest and followed a trail that led to the ”farm”. He met a little boy his age named Shmuel, and they became best friends. Ever since that day Bruno came back and they played games, and he fed Shmuel. Bruno soon found out that his father was a Nazi and that the people in stripped pajamas were Jews. Bruno’s mom had decided that this wasn’t a good place for a child to grow up and they were going to move on with out the father. Bruno decided to visit his friend one last time before he left.  Shmuel had lost his father and needed help finding him, he noticed you can dig a hole under the barbed wire fence, so Bruno climbed under the fence and borrowed clothes to look like a Jew. They walked around looking but couldn’t find him, and soon got herded into a chamber. They were forced to take their clothes off and they thought it was just a shower. But instead it was a gas chamber an they died together from the poisonous gas.

       I like how in the book Bruno and Shmuel know that they are supposed to be enemies but they don’t care because they are innocent. One day when Bruno visits Shmuel, Bruno says “We’re not supposed to be friends, you and me. We’re meant to be enemies. Did you know that?” I also like how the “farmer” helps bruno when he falls off the swing and Bruno keeps complaining but the “farmer” says , “Don’t make it worse by thinking it’s more painful than it actually is.” This was very good advise to Bruno at that time. I didn’t like the end of the book, but I also didn’t hate the end of the book. I didn’t like the end of the book because the two boys suffered a horrible death that they didn’t deserve . I sort of liked the end of the book because the father gets a taste of his own medicine. I would completely, no doubt, recommend this book to other readers over the age of thirteen because this was very intense to read, and to picture every little detail in my mind it is definitely a book i will never forget. If you like having a good cry once in awhile I think this book is for you. I would definitely recommend this book.

Pappas, Constantine

October 30, 2016

English, Period 4

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

Author: Mildred D. Taylor

Genre: Historical Fiction

276 pages

Newberry Award Winner

The novel, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, by Mildred D. Taylor is about an African American family named the Logans who lived in Mississippi during the Great Depression. The Logans, consisting of the four children, Stacey the eldest, Cassie the only daughter, Christopher-John and Clayton Chester (who goes by Little Man), Mama and the father,  and Big Ma their grandmother. The family all lived on a large 400 acre farm where they grow cotton. The children walk an hour each day to the all black school where their mother taught. On their route to school every day a bus full of white students passes them sometimes splashing mud onto the children, for the white kids’ amusement. The school the children attended was not as nice as the all white schools, they didn’t have buses and their “new” books from the school board were just raggedy used books that the white schools were done with. A little while later, Cassie, Stacey, and their friend T.J. go with Big Ma to the flea market in a nearby city where the boys eye a gun that they are interested in. When inside one of the shops the owner helps the white customers before them, this upsets Cassie and she confronts the shop owner which angers him and he starts calling Cassie the N-word and kicks her out of the store. While walking back to their wagon Cassie bumps into a white girl. The white girl gets very upset by this and her father pushes Cassie on the ground and demands she refer to his daughter as Ms. At the children’s school the school board hears Mama is teaching something that is different from what is in the book and is fired.  T.J. makes friends with two white boys who have him steal the gun with them and then almost kill him. Since the boys were not caught a group of white men including the boys attack T.J. and want to kill him. While this is going on the Logans cotton field caught on fire. Luckily the fire was put out before all the cotton burned but T.J. was put in jail where he will most likely be put to death.

I enjoyed this novel. I felt it was told very well and was strung together perfectly. I enjoyed how it slowly transitioned throughout an entire year without any large plot holes. What I wasn’t a big fan of was the amount characters in the book. The problem with this was an insignificant character would be mentioned in the beginning of the book and be brought up again at the end. It was hard to remember all of these characters since most were forgettable. I also was not fond of the lack of character development even with the main characters such as Cassie. I liked the ending of the story but I felt it ended right on the climax of the story with only a sentence or so to be the falling action. I would though recommend this book to other readers since it was very interesting and suspenseful.

Gorgy, Matthew

Book Review #1

November 1, 2016

English, Period 4 

The Great Fire

 Jim Murphy

 Non-Fiction

144 pages

 Newberry Medal

           The novel, The Great Fire, by Jim Murphy, is about a fire that happened in Chicago. The

fire started at the O’Learys’ barn. Their neighbor Pegleg was the first person to notice the fire and ran inside the barn to save the animals and to warn the O’Learys’ that their barn was on fire. The O’Learys’ other neighbor William ran to the drug store to turn on the fire alarm. But the owner of the drug store did not allow him to because he said all the fire trucks had left to another fire. The owner of the drug store said that he turned on the alarm after William left, but no alarm was recorded at the fire department. The fire started spreading through the neighborhood destroying everything.  The firefighters got the location of the fire and when they arrived it was the wrong location, and this kept happening. When the firefighters arrived to the right location the firefighters were exhausted from all the fires in the last couple of weeks. Because the firefighters were tired the did not have enough energy to stop the fire from spreading anymore. The fire was now spreading to North and East of Chicago. The fire grew so big the fire fighters could not put out the fire in the parts of the city that were already burnt. As the fire kept spreading it started to rain which gave everyone hope that the fire would go out. By the morning the fire that was destroying the city was out. The Chicago fire killed three hundred people. The people of the city got very mad at the O’Learys for starting the fire. In fear that people will kill them for starting the fire the O’learys left Chicago.

            Some good things I liked in the great fire was the action and the hope. An example of action in the book was when the fire was rampaging down the streets and the fire fighters were too tired to stop it from spreading to the rest of the city. An example of hope in this book is when it started raining and the people had hope the fire would go out. Some things I did not like in this book was the loss and fear. An example of loss in the book is people losing their houses and their lives. An example of fear is when the fire fighters could not stop the fire from spreading through the city. Another example of fear in the book is when the O’Learys left Chicago in fear that they were going to be killed. I liked the end of the book because the fire eventually goes out and there is no more loss or fear. I would recommend this book because of the action and hope. I would also recommend this because even if you don’t like action or hope it is an entertaining story to read.