What to read next?

So why aren't there any new book reviews? It's not that I haven't been reading anything lately. I've been re-reading some old favorites:

• Hawaii by James Michener

This book was written in 1959 and tells an epic story of Hawaii. This book begins with the islands being formed by volcano action, the arrival of the first plants and birds, the first people coming from Tahiti, the arrival of Christian missionaires. Continuing on through the time of Chinese and Japanese immigration to the islands to work in the sugar fields, the story is interwoven between different groups on the islands. The end of the Hawaiian monarchy, the attack on Pearl Harbor, World War II and statehood. It's a complex work covering a huge time period. Michener was a writer of numerous such epic books. If you like to really get into a book, stay with the characters while something monumental happens, you'll like Michener's work. Other books, he has written include:

Chesapeake - Beginning in 1611, the story of a family in America over a period of four centuries.

Texas - This saga of Texas history spans four and a half centuries, beginning in the early 1500s. The Covenant - A historical novel covering over 15,000 years of history in South Africa and which focuses on three principal families who settled in the region throughout the centuries.

Holes by Louis Sachar

Guest Reviewer - August, Grade 7A

Why would this author want his book to be titled Holes?

The genre of this book is fiction and I think that 5th graders and MS students will like this book.

Stanley Yelnats is a boy that is nice and kind. However, he is bullied a lot because he is overweight. He is from a poor family and his father is an inventor that fails most of the time. Stanley Yelnats is arrested for a crime that he didn’t really commit and as punishment chooses to go to Camp Green Lake instead of going to jail. Camp Green Lake, Texas, is in an old abandoned town out in the desert. The camp warden lives in a cabin underneath two shady oak trees, but the boys that are sent to the camp have to live in tents under the hot, blazing sun.

"Stanley Yelnats was given a choice. The judge said, "You may go to jail, or you may go to Camp Green Lake." Stanley was from a poor family. He had never been to camp before." At first, Stanley was excited to go to camp because it was during the summer but later he realized that it was worse than being in jail. Stanley, with eyes filled with terror, went to the park and would only see miles and miles of desert. The setting is important because it is kind of a survival story about how to get used to the environment.

I like this book because it is a book filled with friendship, mystery and excitement.

The Last Shot by John Feinstein

Guest Reviewer - Jonathan, 6T


The Last Shot is written by John Feinstein. This is one of the best books I have ever read. This book is about a boy, named Steven, who loves writing and writes all of the time. Finally, he wins a writing competition for the NCAA basketball league and is awarded a trip to go and stay at the players’ hotel. He writes newspaper articles about what is going on in the NCAA. He can also get good seats to all of the games. At one of the games, he and Susan, his friend and colleague, went outside where they overheard someone blackmail a player named Chip Garber. This was really scary to them. The blackmailer wanted the player to miss the game winning shot of the NCAA finials. ‘What if I can’t do it?’’ “Then your team gets striped with all its wins and your father gets fired.” (Page 55) This was a very suspenseful moment in the book.

I also liked this book because it is a mystery and I love mysteries. It’s exciting because of the many adventures that the characters go through. One time, the characters tried to get a hotel key and had to pretend that they belonged to the hotel. This was very suspenseful. There are many other scenes that are funny and adventurous. From these examples I have shared and from the rest of the book, I learned a couple things. One is that you can accomplish whatever you want if you just put your mind to it like Steven did when he won the contest and when he discovered the blackmailer. The second is if someone keeps on giving you presents and starts to bribe you, you will have to pay later (nothing is for free).

I am sure that any one over the age of 10 will love this book, especially if you like mysteries. Now you can think about it! Will the kids let him get away with blackmailing and have the shot missed at the end of the game or will they be able to arrest the blackmailer?

The School Story by Andrew Clements

Guest Reviewer - Heddi, Grade 6W

Have you ever felt like you wanted to publish a book? I would like to introduce you to a fiction book called The School Story by Andrew Clements. The main characters in this book are Natalie, Zoe, and Hannah Nelson (Natalie’s mom). Natalie is a 12 year old girl who is a great writer. Her friend Zoe loves the book that Natalie writes. Zoe is Natalie’s best friend and when Zoe read the script, she became a number one fan of Natalie’s book and wanted to get it published. Then Zoe got the brilliant idea that Natalie should change her name so her mom wouldn’t recognize it. Natalie’s mom works at the big children’s book publisher, Shipley Junior Books.

"Cassandra …. Cassandra Day. I’ve always wished my name could be Cassandra. Do you think Cassandra Day is a good name?" Zoe grinned. "It’s a great name!" She stuck out her hand, and when Natalie took it, Zoe pumped it up and down and said, "Cassandra Day. I’m so glad to get to meet such a wonderful author!" I chose this passage because once I wanted to change my name to Grace. In second grade I got teased because "Heddi" sounded like Harry Potter in Korean.
The story takes place in a small city in the U.S. Natalie wants to get her book published by her mom but she doesn’t want to ask anything from her mom.

The reason why I read this book is because I like the book called The Janitor’s Boy by Andrew Clements so I thought this book would be fun too. I wonder what it would it like to be Natalie because usually kids in 5th or 6th grade can’t get an idea like getting a book published. Read this book to figure out what happens after they change their names and if they get the book published.

Dial "L" for Loser by Lisi Harrison

Guest Reviewer - Lynn, Grade 7D

Have you ever had a friend that was there for you all the time? Well, this book talks about friendship. The novel series Clique includes many books and the book Dial “L” For Loser happens to be its sixth book. The author is Lisi Harrison and the book is teen fiction. It explains the daily life of some very rich and lucky girls.

The girls have a group called, “The Pretty Committee.” The girls’ names are Massie (the head), Alicia (the Beta), Dylan, Kristen, and Claire (the Loser). The book takes place in Westchester, New York, and California. The girls try out for a movie part when they meet a famous director at the set of The Daily Grind, Dylan’s famous mother’s morning show. Some of the girls get to go to California except for Dylan and Kristen. Claire gets the part and treats everyone like dirt. This causes many problems throughout the book.

“I knew you didn’t like us when you kicked us off the set,” said Massie and Alicia. The quote explains how friendship can’t be perfect and that everyone makes mistakes. This book made me change my mind about how friends are supposed to be there for you. I used to think that friendship is supposed to go smoothly, but this book showed me that there will be bumps along the way. But friends should always be there for you. I learned that friends are supposed to be there for you all the time and not lie to you or gossip about you to other people. If you’re interested in love, friendship, and fashion tips, this is a perfect book for you.

The Egypt Game by Zilpa Keatley Snyder

Guest Reviewer - Thomas Grade 6B

Hello, my fellow students. Listen up! You will hear me speak! NOW!

The book I am writing about is The Egypt Game and the genre is a combination of mystery, adventure, and make believe. There are three main characters. Their names are April, Elizabeth, and Melanie. April is a show off, but later in the book she is very nice and friendly. Elizabeth is very smart and has reddish hair. Melanie is a very friendly and nice African American who loves to use her imagination. The setting is an imaginary Egypt created by April and Melanie, in the back of the professor’s shop. Much of the story takes place in Melanie’s family’s apartment.

A quote, “Ouch” several times and a couple of other words that Melanie wasn’t allowed to say. “-- --!”. This connects to my life because a lot of movies that I watch now have cursing, and it seems that no matter where I am, people curse everywhere these days. Even when I was playing basketball, one of my cousins cursed. For me this book was quite slow moving and I would have liked more action. My question is, why do you think April was allowed to curse?

Thanks Guest Reviewers!

Hey, hope you are all enjoying the reviews by students in Mrs. Paproski's Learning Lab class. Great Job! all these booktalks make me anxious to starting reading them.

The Berkut by Joseph Heywood

Guest Review - Adam, Grade 8A

Genre: Historical Fiction

You know that Hitler committed suicide in Berlin on the 30th of May, 1945, right? Well, according to this book, he didn’t. He and his elite commando leader, Gunter Priem, escaped Berlin with some soldiers. But Joseph Stalin, the leader of The Soviet Union, isn’t going to let his archenemy go. To find Hitler, he appoints Vasily Petrov, The Berkut, and a group of Russian killers to find and bring Hitler back alive – or die. I like this book because it’s very suspenseful and exciting. Also, this is another one of those books which you need to read to the end to fully understand.

“Petrov: Might isn’t the only necessary Factor in Warfare. Intelligence is also a necessary factor.” I took this quote because it shows how serious Petrov is, and it also gives an insight to how the Soviet Military worked. The story takes place in many places, beginning in war torn Berlin and ending in Moscow. So, when your teachers tell you that Adolf Hitler committed suicide in the ruins of Berlin, think about this book, and you just might think you filled a small piece in history.

Also, this book is a discard, so if anyone wants to borrow it, feel free to ask me. But you are going to have to get your own book mark!

Voyage on the great Titanic : the diary of Margaret Ann Brady

Guest Reviewer - Bailey, Grade 7S

The genre of this book is historical fiction and it is good reading for middle school students.

The main character’s name is Margret Ann Brady. She is thirteen years old and has one brother, but no parents. This book is written in dairy form from day to day but sometimes she forgets to write. The story begins at an orphanage in London, then moves on to the Titanic, and ends in Chicago around 1912.

“Margret watches the sinking of the Titanic with other women and children crying and she says that it was a quiet time but men were swimming towards them and climbed into the boat and she gave one man her father’s coat. But they were watching around the area where the Titanic had sunk and they went to get some people who were still alive.” This book changed my thinking about the Titanic because I thought when the Titanic was sinking that everyone got into a life boat. But I learned that only women and children (with boys that had to be under the age of thirteen) could get on the lifeboats.

If you were on the Titanic, would you have stayed on the ship, gone on a life boat, or would you have stayed in the water until you died? Well, that was a decision Margret had to make. They say that the Titanic was supposed to be the strongest and biggest ship, but then why did it break in half?

Pulling Princes by Tyne O’Connell

Guest Reviewer - Natasha, Grade 7S


Have you ever wondered what it would be like to escape the madness of your parental clutches and run away to boarding school? Well, I never did! Who would not want to go to an ordinary school near your home instead of a posh school called St. Augustine’s in the UK? This is the setting for this story called Pulling Princes written by Tyne O’Connell. This story takes place in the 2000’s and is teen fiction.

There are 11 characters in this book, but there are only two main characters called Calypso Kelly and Prince Freddie. Calypso Kelly, an American girl with long thick wavy blonde hair is madly fit and slim only at the age of 14. Prince Freddie is the first in line to the British throne, easy going and definitely a boy with hidden depths and is 15. Calypso Kelly loves clothes, fashion and accessories, and so do I. I really could relate to Calypso Kelly because I love to go shopping every week at Claire’s or Limited Too in America but if I’m in Korea it would be Clue or Bangles. My mom and I have the same styles, so if she sees something when I’m at school, she buys it for me.

I would like to recommend this book to people who like the Princess Diaries and who have already read one of the Calypso Chronicles. This book is about princes and princesses similar to the Princess Diaries. “But when Calypso ends up in the tabloids after her photo is snapped kissing England’s most eligible royal, Prince Freddie, her little black dress isn’t the only thing hanging on by a safety pin and a prayer. Can Calypso save her reputation and her relationship with the prince from becoming a total tragedy? A laugh-out-loud, page turning looks at fitting in…and standing out

Waiting for the Rain by Sheila Gordon

Guest Reviewer - Jana, Grade 8S

Can you imagine always being treated badly by other people that think they are more superior to you? That’s exactly what Tengo goes through every single day. Waiting for the Rain is realistic fiction that talks about Tengo, a black boy that lives with his family on a farm somewhere on the South African veld. He doesn’t have that much money and since he’s black and it’s the time of apartheid, he often gets treated very badly by people. His friend, Frikkie, is the total opposite of him. He is white and since he’s the nephew of the owner of the farm, he will someday own it and also own the rights of Tengo and his family since they work on the farm.

Even though Frikkie and Tengo are friends, it is very hard for them since they live in totally different and conflicting worlds. “Tengo never mentioned the books to Frikkie because it shamed him now that even though the two of them were the same age, Frikkie was so much more advanced in schoolwork than he was.” This quote shows how different Tengo and Frikkie are. It makes it very clear that Frikkie is able to do things that Tengo isn’t, in this case being able to go to school and studying.

I thought this book was very interesting. By reading this book I learned a lot about apartheid in Africa and how different blacks and whites were treated. I don’t think the writing style was very hard to understand but sometimes the main theme of the book, apartheid, was difficult to understand since I didn’t know much about it and lots of things were going on at the same time. Overall, I really enjoyed reading Waiting for the Rain and if you’re interested in finding out if Tengo and Frikkie manage to stay friends, you should definitely read this book.

Purple Hibiscus by: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Guest Reviewer - John, Grade 8P

Have you ever wanted to know what it was like to have everything but have nothing? Well, Purple Hibiscus is the book for you because it talks about a girl, Kambili, and how she lives a just okay life even though she has everything.

This is a book about a girl who lives in a rich family in Africa during the 1980’s to 90’s. Have you every wondered what it’s like to be rich, but not able to do what you want with the stuff you have because of your father? This girl is a girl who doesn’t know how to have fun because her father is a very strict person and makes everyone do it his way. This is what Kambili goes through everyday until her aunt comes over and takes Kambili to her house in another town. A quote from the story is, “They laugh so easily, even the little baby laughs thought Kambili.” She sees that they have more fun in life and they don’t worry about work or getting in trouble like her family does.
This is a non-fiction book about a girl living two lives. The setting of this book is in Africa, in a town and the compound of the house. Kambili is the youngest child of the family with two kids. She is a very nice girl and does everything that her father tells her. She is an African who lives a very good life because she is rich. She has a brother and a mother that watch out for each other because of the father and Kabili is afraid of her father. She also is a very smart girl but she is forced to be the best in everything.

What I learned in this book was that you can try to do everything everyone tells you to do, but sometimes you must do things your own way. This is one of the many moral lessons that you can learn from the book.

Purple Hibiscus is a good book and a great story of Africa. So, go and read it.

Molly Moons Hypnotic Time Travel Adventure by Georgia Byng

Guest Reviewer - Nina, Grade 6S

Have you ever read a book where people and animals stop the world? This book is science fiction, and has a lot of history because the setting is mostly in India. It is the third book of the Molly Moon series. The main character is Molly Moon, and she is a world class hypnotist. In the first two books, she is an orphan, but now she is with her real parents, Primo Cell and Lucy Logan. She travels far to India and learns how to time travel! Soon, she is traveling through the past and the future. She gets kidnapped by a man called Zackya and now she’s in the 1870s, and has no way to get out! She soon gets put in an old castle, and the kidnapper gets four different Mollys. One that is a baby, one that is a three years old, one that’s a six year old and one that is 10. Now that Molly’s past has changed, she needs a way to change it back.

“Petula!” At once she was struck by something crucial. Petula was moving, and everything else in the world was frozen still. Petula had stopped the world.”
I chose this book because there aren’t many dogs, or animals that stop the world.
I chose this genre because it is the type of book I love to read. Sometimes I just have to look at a science fiction book and start to read it right away, or sometimes, when it’s too loud to read in the book store, then I wait until I get home.

If you want to read a book about time traveling, adventure, and hypnotizing, then read Molly Moons Hypnotic Time Travel Adventure!

SMC Reads!

SMC Reads!

Talk about books! Suggest good books!

Upcoming! In the next couple of weeks, student reviewers from Mrs. Paproski's MS Learning Lab class will be sharing booktalks of favorite books they have recently read.

Who Killed Mr. Chippendale? by Mel Glenn

Ever read a novel in poetry form?

Free-form poems tell the story of what happened to Mr. Chippendale, an English teacher at Tower High School. Early one morning, as Mr. Chippendale is preparing for his regular run on the track, he is shot and killed from behind by an unknown assailant.

By the us of alternating poems, the individuals share their opinions about Mr. Chippendale; some liked him, some hated him, and one person, the school counselor loved him. One person just thought it was cool he was shot---"will i make the nightly news?" Twins share diametrically opposed views of him—greatest teacher I ever had vs. the worst teacher ever. The police question individuals; eventually, the killer is discovered.

What will people remember about you when you are gone?

The epilogue tells where individuals are thirteen years later. Some successful, some retired and one out of prison after serving five years.

Double Helix by Nancy Werlin

This book's story could be taken from the headlines of just about any newspaper.

Eli’s mother is dying with Huntington’s chorea. This dreadful genetic disease causes progressive neural and muscular deterioration; there is no treatment or cure.

Does Elli have this defective gene? Worried about his mother and unable to communicate with his emotionally distant dad, he decides to take a "gap year" and work before attending college.
Aware of some mysterious family connection with Dr. Wyatt at Wyatt Transgenics, he applies and is hired as a lab assistant there. Eli’s girlfriend, Viv, is his one lifeline during this time. Bits and pieces of the mystery unfold as Eli discovers he is in fact not carrying this gene because his mother has participated in genetic engineering experimentation. At what cost?

Lots of ethical questions here in a powerful suspense story.

Click on the title to go to the author's website for information on her other books.

Bone Detective: the Story of Forensic Anthropologist Diane France

CIS and Bones fans will enjoy this book by Lorraine Jean Hopping about a real-life forensic anthropologist.

Diane France, daughter of a small-town doctor in Colorado, became interested in physical anthropology during her second semester at Colorado State University. She decided to further specialize and become a forensic anthropologist (one who analyzes bones as evidence in an investigation). In exciting though at times grisly cases, she has helped determine cause of death and identify victims. Some of her most famous cases involved identification of various remains: bodies of the assassinated Romanovs of Russia; Jesse James; and victims of the 9-11 attack in New York. She has organized NecroSearch, a volunteer group trained to find missing victims often buried in secreted graves.

Other related books:

Jackson, Donna M. (1996) The bone detectives: how forensic anthropologists solve crimes and uncover mysteries of the dead. New York: Little Brown & Co.
Explores the world of forensic anthropology and its applications in solving crimes.

Maples, William R. (1994) Dead men do tell tales. New York: Doubleday.
The memoirs of a noted forensic scientist who has helped to unravel numerous investigative mysteries

Extreme Sports: In search of the Utimate Thrill

Extreme sports by Joe Tomlinson

With incredible color photographs on almost every page, this book provides visual images of every extreme sport possible. Extreme sports are not just surfing, skateboarding and motor-cross anymore. According to this book, team sports are dying out in favor of individual sports which test the individual to the absolute level.

Divided into three categories of air, land and water sports, each sport has a description and photograph of participants. Some of the featured sports are: bungee jumping, hang gliding; high-wire tightrope walking over the Great Wall of China; sky flying; the Ironman contests in Hawaii; mountain-boarding; free-diving; and also the more well-known extreme sports of scuba diving and surfing. Forty-one extreme sports are listed in the table of contents.

Great browsing book; terrific photographs.

Heroes don't run by Harry Mazer

The first two books in this trilogy are “A Boy at War” and “A Boy No More.”

Adam Pelko has waited eagerly for his seventeenth birthday so he can enlist in the Marines in 1944. When his mother refuses to sign the necessary paperwork, he visits his grandfather on the East Coast and convinces him that it is the family thing to do: the grandfather had served in World War I, Adam’s father served until his death at Pearl Harbor and now it is Adam’s turn. Adam develops deep friendships while going through boot camp. Following training, he is sent with his unit to fight in Okinawa where he experiences the reality of harsh conditions, fierce battles and the loss of close comrades. Wounded, he survives and returns home a hero.

Clear and convincing portrayals of close family relationships and the camaraderie developed in boot camp and on the battlefield make this an interesting and meaningful book about the last days of the War in the Pacific.

The Rise and Fall of a 10th Grade Social Climber. Lauren Mechling and Laura Moser

Like ChickLit?
When Mimi Schulman goes to live with her dad in New York after her parents divorce, she tries to adjust to big city life again while attending an exclusive prep school. Looks are deceiving as the really popular crowd dress eccentrically and behave erratically also. Sam, a childhood friend, makes a bet with Mimi about whether she will be accepted to the “in group”, the Coolies. Mimi agrees to keep a diary and faithful records all the intrigues and secrets of her new friends while also becoming close to them.

When the diary gets posted to the Internet, Mimi suffers the shame and humiliation of having written those things but also real remorse for her actions. The teen experience is all here in this book: parties, clothes, language, and music presented with wit and humor.

Sequel “All Q, No A” is due out in June. Website at:
http://www.socialclimberbooks.com/index.html