I also read Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith.  This story takes place during World War II.  Ida, is African-American, a girl, and a trained pilot.  Her daddy taught her to fly on his crop duster.  Unfortunately women don’t have very many rights during this time and African-American women have even less rights.  When Ida hears about a program that is enlisting women to fly planes for the Army so that more men can go to fight in the war she is faced with a decision.  Will she sacrifice who she is in order to fulfill her dreams?  Will she use her light skin to pass for a white person so that she can join the program? This book had a slow start, a great middle, and a strange ending that read more like a biography than a piece of fiction.  There are gems in this book and the issues it brings up are worth reading and discussing.  However, I think it would take a really committed reader to get through it.

My most recent read is one of the best 5th grade books I have read in a long time!  The Strange Case of the Origami Yoda.  Tom Angleberger has taken this school story to a new level and infused it with mystery and adventure.  Dwight is a real weirdo, but his Origami Yoda gives seemingly accurate advice about all kinds of topics.  Is Dwight just pretending or does the Yoda really have the power to tell the future?  Tommy is going to find out, because his life depends on it.  This book is constructed like a notebook and is a collection of the different stories of people’s experiences with the Origami Yoda.  It’s not too challenging if you remember that each chapter is written from a different person’s perspective.  I highly recommend this book to all readers, whether you’re a Star Wars fan or not!

Mrs. Muhtaris if she were a character in the Wimpy Kid series.

I know you’ve read all the books.  The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series has taken elementary schools by storm.  Jeff Kinney has created a graphic hybrid novel that gets kids excited about reading!

You can Wimp Yourself at:

http://www.wimpyourself.com/

Read a review of the  the second book in the series.

The Wizard Heir

By Cinda Williams Chima

The Wizard Heir is about a boy named Seph McCauley who is an orphan with a very strange ability that he has been wondering about since he was a kid. He was adopted by an old lady that has taught him how to control it. Now, teenager Seph’s foster mother has died and an incident has occurred at a bar and one of his best friends might have been lost for life. His guardian finds a kind of a camp for him to go to for the year. It turns out that he finds people just like him but different at the same time. He finds a couple of new friends that are unlike him, but when his friend tries to help him get out of the place, the headmaster, who has the same gift as Seph murders his friend. The headmaster shows how vile he could be if Seph doesn’t agree on a very dangerous deal. Seph knows that he can’t e-mail his guardian from the computer in his room so he sneaks into the headmaster’s files and sends out an S.O.S to his guardian. Unfortunately, Seph gets no response from his guardian for a month until the headmaster finds his zip drive plugged into his computer and calls him to his office. Seph knows what the talk is about and charges toward the headmaster but awful consequences come from that single move.

This book will keep you on the edge of your seat the whole time you’re reading this. It has 458 pages but it won’t matter that much because it’s so good you’ll be done before you can say, “this book is great!” my favorite part was when at the end him and another one of his friends battle the headmaster. This book is fantasy and also would appeal to anyone who likes magic or Harry Potter books. It’s just right for 5th-8th grade students and just the way the book is written will make you feel like you’re the character from the story. I think that another good pick for fantasy readers or readers who like Greek gods, heroes, and monsters, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Demigod files is a great book for mostly any body.
And I only want you to remember what I said about the way the writer wrote this book, it will make you feel like you are the character, and poor Seph McCauley suffers endless pain throughout this book. Beware children, it is a very dangerous thing to open this book, for if you take one fateful look, and you will suffer a reader’s consequence. This book is sold at Borders or Target.

blogged by Hunter

AUTHOR: MARILYN LEVINSON

GENRE: REALISTIC FICTION

ISBN: 0-439-71965-8

“I hate my dad” Cassie Landauer told her momwhen her dad moves away, and he divorces Cassie’s mom for a younger woman. After that incident Cassie decides that there would be no boys allowed in her house. How would she be able to survive when her mom is dating? How can she survive with one living in her house?

I love the way Marilyn Levinson describes the story for example, “Corinne made a face that she always makes when I tell her how selfish she is,” Cassie thought. My favorite part in the book is when Cassie puts up a sign on her bedroom door. The genre of this book is realistic fiction the number of pages in this book is 137. This book would appeal to ages 10-15 because they would understand the situation of divorce better than kids in smaller ages. Read No Boys Allowed! by Marilyn Levinson to find out what happens next. Would she survive with a boy living in her house? Would she forgive her dad? Would she be able to keep her feelings to herself after her mom is dating?

Peter and the Starcatchers

The Starcatchers series by Barry Pearson will keep you on the edge of your seat the whole way through. As you might know by the title the main character Peter who is an orphan boy basically saves the world from pirates. He got stranded on an island with savages and apparently the pirates got there too. The adventurous young boy Peter and his friends find themselves almost, eaten by a giant alligator, stabbed and attacked by savages. You will meet his other friends, molly and his orphan friends. This book shows that even an orphan boy can save the world.

My favorite part was when the savages put Peter and his friends into a cage, with an elephant sized alligator. Peter is very easy to like and is always helping his friends out.

This book is just right for grades 5-6. It has 451 pages with medium sized text. It will satisfy people who love magic and adventure. It is a book for girls and boys. That was Peter and the Starcatchers by Barry Pearson. Happy reading!

blogged by Tyce

EXTREME jr. edition

How to Avoid a Tsunami, How to Escape from a Mountain Lion, How to Find Water in the Desert, How to Deal with a Charging Moose, How to Survive an Elephant Stampede. The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Extreme Junior Edition teaches you how to do all these things and more. It is by two amazing authors, David Borgenicht and Justin Heimberg and it has the funniest illustrations by Chuck Gonzales. It is about how to survive in a bunch of horrible scenarios. For example, it teaches you how to build a shelter in the rain forest and it says “…hang a do not disturb sign on your home so the jungle animals will leave you alone.”

I think it is a great book for any reader who wants to survive when at sea, when in the mountains, when in the desert, when in the arctic, or when on safari. It’s only 128 pages so it is pretty short but some of the text is kind of confusing. This book is set up so that you don’t have to read the different scenarios in order. None of the scenarios have anything to do with another scenario so it’s all random bad scenarios put together like a college.

Blogged by Noah W.

Muddle Earth

Joe’s just a regular boy with a dog-named Henry that’s really hyper. It’s a normal day and Joe go’s to walk Henry when all of a sudden Henry starts running toward a bush.  Joe thinks that they are going to go right through the bush but if you’re a fantasy reader you will know that something else always happens.  Joe and Henry fall right down a hole hidden in the middle of the bush.  When Joe lands he opens his eyes and he sees an ogre and a man with a white bushy beard.  Joe does not believe what he is seeing so he says aloud pinch me.  So the ogre walks right up to Joe and pinches him.  Joe asks the man where they are and the man says Muddle Earth.  Joe next asks what their names are.  The man says my name is Randalf the best and only wizard in Muddle Earth.  The ogre says Norbert.  Joe now asks how he got here.  Randalf says that he used his best and only spell, which is to summon warrior heroes, and supposedly Joe is a warrior hero.  Now Joe asks why he was summoned here.  Randalf summoned him because there is an angry ogre that is going around squeezing sheep and Joe must stop him!

This book is fantasy genre with lots of action and adventure.  There are 150 pages in the 1^st book.  I think this is one of the best books I have read because all the traveling and funny parts in the book.  My favorite part was probably the part where they are going to buy armor for Joe and they go into the store up stairs up some more stairs and up a ladder that’s shaking back and fourth and they have to climb it.  I think this book would appeal to 5^th graders that like to read adventurous fantasy.  There are 3 books in the series there is Here Be Dragons and Doctor Cuddles of Giggle Glade.  I hope you enjoy reading Muddle Earth!

Blogged by Noah R.

Into the Mist

By Patrick Carman

“Take up your bread and your tea and I’ll tell you what happened that night at Madame Vickers’s House on the Hill.”
Thomas and Roland Warvold want to go on an adventure, but the only adventure they were going on was up and down the trash hill at Madame Vickers’s orphanage. Until they find a piece of paper.
That piece of paper alone takes them on a wild adventure, not exactly the adventure they were looking for, through lakes of fire, dungeons, caves, ravines full of bees and packs of ogres.
They end up befriending a talking puma, who helps the boys find the tower. The tower helps the boys find out the meaning of the paper and the mysterious markings on their knees. But first they have to go into the tower and get to the top. Then they realize the tower is over one hundred years old and about to fall over.
I suggest this book to a 4th or 5th grade reader looking for a good fantasy story. This book is an amazing one. It has an amazing plot, lots of suspense, and a whole lot of fantasy. It is like the prologue to the Land of Elyon series. It is amazingly written by an amazing author, Patrick Carman. It is probably the most amazing book in whole Land of Elyon series. It is based in a fantasy world on a giant platform like landform surrounded by clouds above a giant ocean stretching as far as the eye can see in all directions. The book is written in two different points of view. One half is written in Alexa Daley’s point of view and the other half is written in young Roland Warvold’s point of view.

Blogged By Noah W.

Bone Book One

by: Jeff smith

It starts when three cousins Fone Bone, Smiley Bone, and Phony Bone are in Boneville. Phony wants to run for mayor but everyone hates him because he is the richest person in town and brags a lot about it. He also wants everyone’s money so there was an angry mob and they got ran out of town. They have been running for two weeks and went so far that they’re now in the desert!!! Will they ever get back? What’s going to happen to them?

I love this book because Jeff smith’s writing style it will make you laugh hard but then short after make you scream in horror! You would like this book if you like humor and graphic novels because Jeff smith will make you laugh so hard you will puke through your nose! Like this line: silly bone: oh well I guess you can whine all you want when yer the richest person in town. Phony bone: AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! Smiley: oh silly me ex richest!

blogged by Ethan

Bluestar's Prophesy

By Erin Hunter

SHHLOOOOFFFKCHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You just went back in time in the warrior’s world. In this warriors prequel Bluestar is only Bluefur. There is a prophecy “you will be fire that runs through the forest”. This is set for Bluefur. Bluefur goes through many troubles. She loses her sister and mom.

This book is sad funny and adventurous. It is the best warriors ever written. I would recommend Bluestars prophecy to all ages this warriors is by Erin hunter. Blololololoep.

blogged by Mike W.