Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Review by Hannah

I like Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling because it is very exciting and magical. Harry turns 16 in this book and that comes with tons of challenges. Sixth years learn to Apparate, studies become harder, and Harry takes private lessons with Dumbledore. To make matters worse Lord Voldemort is gaining power. Join Harry and face Lord Voldemort in this exciting book.

An Inconvenient Truth

Review by Natalie

An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore

            What do you think when you hear the words an inconvenient truth? Most people think “An inconvenient truth about what?” At least, I did. The book, An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore, tells you about the inconvenient truth of Climate Crisis, more commonly known as Global Warming. Al Gore, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, known environmentalist, and the runner up a few years ago for president, captures your attention from the very first page of this book. An Inconvenient Truth has lots of beautiful pictures that can really show you what happens when Climate Crisis kicks in. Do any of you like to go to Martha’s Vineyard, Miami, or New York City? This book tells you the interesting and inconvenient truth that Global Warming is really a major threat to those regularly visited places. Read An Inconvenient Truth to find out more of the terrible impact of Climate Crisis. Have a very happy Earth Day and help save the earth one step at a time!   

The Seems: The Glitch in Sleep

 Book reviewed by Matthew

        The book The Seems: The Glitch in Sleep is by John Hulme and Michael Wexler. It is about a boy named Becker Drane who signs up for the best job in the world with the Seems. The Seems made the world and all of its events (including making you born)! But when Becker earns his first mission, there is a glitch in the sleep department! Can Becker fix this problem?

            I recommend this book because it is fun to read through the crazy adventure and events that happen. It is a good book for fantasy fans. I hope you read and like this book.

Semi-precious

Book Review by Greer  

Semi-precious by D. Anne Love was one of my all time favorite books!    D. Anne Love did an amazing job of using vivid language and making me want to read more and more. When I was reading this, each end of the chapters made me want to read the next one so badly. This book was amazing!

Semi-precious is about a girl named Garnet and her family, which includes her sister Opal, her dad and her mom. It takes place in summer in Mirabeau, Texas.When Garnet’s dad comes home for Garnet’s mom’s birthday he ruins everything by giving mamma a vacuum cleaner. Mamma got so angry that the next morning she decided to run off to Nashville, the music city, to live her dream of being a musician. And since dad went back to his job which is really far away he can’t be there to take care of Garnet and Opal. So, mamma drops both girls off at her sister’s house, Aunt Julia is the sister.

 Over the rest of the summer Garnet and Opal have many troubles with Aunt Julia and her house. One thing that they hate is that there’s no TV in the house and that Aunt Julia has no car, so they have to walk everywhere they go, except for when other people give them rides. When they go to school in Aunt Julia’s town, Garnet becomes the laugh stock, but Opal becomes super popular and she almost does something extremely stupid.

Will Garnet ever get through the school year? Does the girls’ mom ever come back? Does the dad come home and take care of the girls? And what happens to Garnet’s dad when a fire catches on the boat he works on? Find out the answers in Semi-precious. 

Dragon’s Blood

 Book Review by Will

Dragon’s Blood by Jane Yolen is a story about how Jakkin Stewart, a bonder, or slave, steals a baby dragon in hopes that he will earn enough gold to fill his bag and buy himself out of bond. To get that much money, he must train his dragon to fight in the pits. Because he has stolen the dragon, he must train it in his hidden oasis to avoid discovery. Will Jakkin’s Dragon, Red, be a winner? Will he buy himself out of bond? Or will Jakkin be caught and sent to prison?          

I recommend this book, which is the first in a trilogy called the Pit Dragon Chronicles. Also look for the second book, Heart’s Blood, and the third book, A Sending of Dragons. 

Island of the Blue Dolphins

Reviewed by Mark

Island of the Blue Dolphins  by Scott O’Dell starts when a Native  American village sees a ship with red sails coming to their island. The chief says hello and greets the strange visitors. The visitors are from Russia. The two groups form a trade association in which both the Native Americans and the Russians catch beaver and share 50% of the profit made. When the day comes to collect profit, the Russians kill the majority of the villagers, including the chief. The chief’s daughter Karana and his son Ramo are very sad.    

The new chief, Kimki, decides to leave the village after a long, hard winter. He goes off alone to a country he once visited as a boy. After a long time, Kimki sends a ship with three white sails, back to the village on the island. The crew tells the village to board quickly because it was a stormy day. In confusion, Ramo forgot his fishing spear and went back to the island to get it. Karana dove off the boat because she would not let her brother get stranded of the island himself. The two deserted siblings lived a very primitive life, getting food for each other and sleeping in abandoned teepees. Even though Ramo is young, he has lots of self confidence.

One day, Karana wakes up to a surprise. The rest of this adventure is up to you to find out. I think that you should read this book if you enjoy nature and adventure.  This book has also been recognized with the following awards, so you will be in good company if you enjoy this book.

 Island of the Blue Dolphin’s awards:

John Newbery Medal. 1961
Lewis Carroll Shelf Award. 1961
Southern California Council on Literature for Children and Young People Notable Book. 1961
Pomona Friends of the Library. 1961
International Board on Books for Young People Honor List. 1962
William Allen White Children’s Book Award. 1963
Federal Republic of Germany Jugendbuchpreis. 1963
Rupert Hughes Award.
Nene Award. 1964
George C. Stone Center for Children’s Books. 1971
Children’s Literature Association: “10 Best American Children’s Books of the Past 200 Years.” 1976
Omar’s Book Award. 1985
School Library Journal, Books That Shaped The Century. 2000

The Spiderwick Chronicles – Book 1 The Field Guide

The Spiderwick Chronicles by Tony DiTerlizzi is a series of books about the adventures of a young boy named Jared and his brother and sister as they discover the world of trolls, goblins, brownies,  boggarts and other magical beings.

The first book in the series, The Field Guide, really gets you hooked. Jared doesn’t want to move, but when he starts to explore his new house strange things start to happen. Jared discovers a field guide that helps explain some of the strange occurrences. The problem is that Jared is being blamed for all of the mischief and no one will believe his explanation. Parts of the book are scary. For example, when the brownie gets angry it turns into a boggart which is a scary creature that can do a lot of harm.

I recommend this book to children that like fantasy stories and don’t mind being a bit scared. Enjoy!