Diary of a Wimpy Kid - The Long Haul

I read Diary of a Wimpy Kid The Long Haul, by Jeff Kinney.  This book is great because it is about how the Heffley family goes a road trip. Greg was not happy because it was his summer break and he has to stay in a very cramped van. Greg is also very funny because he says “the one thing I’ve learned as a child is that you have ZERO control over your own life.”

The Heffley family was driving for a long time and Greg’s mom made the family listen to spanish cd’s.  Luckily Greg’s little brother Manny fell asleep so they had to turn the cd’s off so they wouldn’t wake him up. Then everybody had to be quiet. Nobody said a word, but then Manny spit his binky out and he woke up and started crying. So everybody was trying to find the binky but they couldn’t. Manny was still crying so Greg’s dad saw a prank store and pulled over to it to get him one. The binky dad bought was goofy but it worked. It had giant teeth and looked like a creepy door knocker.

The book Diary of a Wimpy Kid The Long Haul was amazing. It was really funny. This book really grabs you from the moment it first starts. I would recommend this to friends.

- Costa K. 

Everyday Angel

The book I’m reading is Everyday Angel.The author is Victoria Schwab. This book is about a girl named Aria who is an angel that came to earth to help another girl named Gabby who is human.

Gabby’s brother is sick so Gabby moved to another town because in her other town there was no hospital. Now that she’s moved she doesn’t feel happy anymore. She misses her friends and her old home in the country.

In the beginning Gabby and her brother were having a race back to their house from the woods but when Gabby won her brother did not finish. She heard yelling and turned around but her brother was nowhere to be seen. Next thing she knows she hears coughing and then she woke up in the hospital visiting her brother and the she realized it was all a dream.

She lives on a roof and one day she was climbing down the ladder and fell.  While she was falling she had herself turn invisible and then grabbed onto the ladder, saving herself. After everyone left she turned visible again and then a little boy walked up to her and asked how did she do it. She never said anything.

Aria followed Gabby into school and went into the same class. The teacher wanted to take attendance but he only had Aria’s first name and when he asked for her last she didn’t know what to say because when she came to earth she wasn’t given a last name only a first name. She looked at her bracelet then came up with blue because her bracelet was blue. So she said her name was Aria Blue.

 

                                                            The End So Far!

- Chelsea C. 

The Finisher

I am reading The Finisher, by David Baldacci .The main character is Vega Jane. She is a risk taker. She went up the forbidden stairs at the Stacks and she thinks about running away into the Quag. Vega Jane is mostly alone. Her parents shrunk and they can’t move or talk. At one point in the story they die. Vega Jane misses them terribly. Her  younger brother John may become one of the smartest wugs (person) alive. He is a the youngest member of the council. Delph is Vega Jane’s best friend. He has a crush on her, though he is not talking to her at the moment.

I haven’t finished the book yet, but there have been some important events in the story so far.  Vega Jane goes to her past by a magical key. She gets a spear called destin and a magical rock called the adder rock that can heal and grant any wish expect ill for another person. Another important event is when Quinten Herms goes missing at the beginning of the story. Vega Jane sees him run off into the Quag. The Quag is like a forbidden forest full of garms (beasts).

I really like the book and I would recommend it to people who like fantasy. Vega Jane lives in a unique fantasy world. It has beasts (garms), a Quag, outliners, and mysterious floors to stack.

- Sedona L. 

Choose Your Own Adventure - Mystery of the Maya

I read “Choose Your Own Adventure - Mystery of the Maya” by Richard Anderson. It is a choose your own adventure book so you get to choose what happens and how the story ends. You also get to be the main character in the story. In the book your character is curious about the Mayan civilization so you go on a tour in Mexico. You meet Manuel, who will be your guide because of his Mayan heritage. He said,’’We can explore the ruins or go to Dr.Lopez, the authority of the Maya civilization.’’ You choose to explore the ruins. When you get there you see lots of people exploring what looks like a shattered pyramid. You ask what they were doing and Manuel said,”They are looking for artifacts and documents of life and culture.’’A man and women ask if you would like to help look for artifacts or look around and see what they found so far. You want to help look for artifacts so the man brings you to the site where they were looking to grab a duster and start to look.You were looking for two hours when you found a strange gem. You start to walk over to the man when you you realize you haven’t see Manuel ever since you started your search. You thought you should show the gem to the man, but you’re worried about Manuel. You chose to give the gem to the man and he says you have made the discovery of a lifetime! He pays you ten thousand dollars as reward and you go home tired and exhausted. It was the greatest day of your life and you wish you could do it again.

I thought the book was very detailed and realistic.The mystery and adventure of exploring ancient ruins was very interesting. I love choose your own adventure books because I love the concept of being able to decide how the story ends. I thought it was brilliant for the author to come up with that idea! All and all, choose your own adventure books are a great series and I would recommend it to anyone because you’ll have a good time reading it from beginning to end.

- Vinny A.

All the Answers

I read the book All the Answers by Kate Messner. It is about a girl (Ava) who found an “ordinary” pencil in a junk drawer. Ava took the pencil out and figured out that it can tell you answers to things, like what day of the week is Easter or something like that. It also can tell you answers to quizzes. Ava is the main character. She finds out lots of important facts about her family that she didn’t know of. She has quite a journey in the story.

Ava was very lucky to find this magic pencil. In the story she and her friend Sophie went to a shoe store and got to find out when her favorite pair of shoes would go on sale. They also got to find out if anyone in her family had cancer, but one person did. Ava also found out that her field trip she was going to was going to be very hard.

I would recommend All the Answers to a friend. It was an awesome book. I would give it FIVE stars. Even though there were some some sad parts I still loved it.

- Norah T. 

Wings of Fire, The Lost Heir

I read Wings of fire, The Lost Heir. This book is a about 5 dragonets from a prophecy to end a dragon war. The main characters are Clay, Starflight, Sunny, Glory, and Tsunami. Clay is the Bigwigs, Starflight is the Know it all, Sunny is the kind one, Glory is the grumpy one, and Tsunami is the tough one. By the way, dragonets is a term for baby dragons, usually 15 years or younger. It does not mean female dragons!

In this book Tsunami is the main character. The book is about Tsunami finding her mother and shortly Kestrel dies afterwards. Meanwhile the other dragons are sent into the upper ground palace into a cave. Tsunami’s mother is Queen Coral, Queen of the Seawings! Queen Coral is allied with Blister. Blister is the daughter of the dead Sandwing Queen, Along with Burn and Blaze. So they decided to start a war to see who would be queen.

I would definitely recommend the series to anyone who loves action and mythical creatures! My opinion of the book is that it is great! It is a perfect mixture of action and excitement! The book is by Tui T. Sutherland and is a New York Times Bestselling Series!

- Zack G.

Smile

I read Smile. The author is Raina Telgemeier and this story is about her. She is the main character. It’s about her life and how she hates braces. She was running and her friend tripped her. She fell on her face and lost her front 2 teeth. One fell out and one got shoved up her gum. She had to get braces once the one that fell out came down. But the one that was shoved up her gum still had to come down so they put braces on but that didn’t really help. So they had to knock her out and pull the tooth out. The pictures that are showing this event look painful. When they are done, they just put in fake teeth. Her sister was mean and called her a "braceface". That’s so rude!!!! Finally, somehow, she got her teeth back. Overall I think this was an amazing book and would highly suggest it to other people!! Smile is a #1 New York Times Bestseller. Telgemeier wrote this book for her husband Dave. I love this book!!

- Caitlin M.

Cara the Camp Fairy

I read Cara The Camp Fairy, by Daisy Meadows. The main characters are Cara, Rachel, and Kirsty. They are all very different. Cara is caring, Rachel is polite, and Kirsty is smart. I know Cara is nice because she lets the others go out or run first when the goblins are chasing them. I know Rachel is nice because she always uses her manners. Kirsty is smart because she comes up with almost all the plans to outsmart the goblins.

In the story the goblins take the magic water bottle (that one is to keep cool) and the magic friendship bracelet (that one is to make camp activities fun). The goblins pretend to be staying at the boys camp that was closed years ago. The girls found out that it was the goblins and they end up water baloon bombing the goblin camp.

Yes I liked the book, and I would recommend it to others because it is a really good story. There is a lot of action. I would especially recommend it to someone who likes fairy tales and someone who likes fairies. It is completely like a fairytale

- Sadie W.

The Prophet of Yonwood

The Prophet of Yonwood is the third book in the City of Ember series by Jeanne DuPrau. I really liked it and it was with new characters named Nickie and Crystal. It was not my favorite Ember book, but it has some good information. I did not get the reason it was part of the series because it did not even have Lina and Doon in the book at all.

I chose this book because it was my most recent book I read and it was really good. The story was about a girl named Nickie and her Aunt Crystal. They go to North Carolina to her grandfather’s house because died. Nickie had three goals she wanted to achieve before she left North Carolina. The three goals were: 1.  Keep Greenhaven (the town her grandfather lived) 2. Fall in love and 3. Help the world.

I would recommend this book to others because if you liked The City of Ember that we read last year and you read The People of Sparks, then you would like it. At the end of the book Nickie does not accomplish all three goals though but she meets some really nice people. Read The Prophet of Yonwood to find out about what happens and what goals/goal she did accomplish.

- Leah M. 

I Survived the Great Chicago Fire

The Great Chicago Fire by Lauren Tarshis is about a boy named Oscar who is trying to get to his mother who is on the other side of the city. The main character is a boy named Oscar. Oscar is very brave. In the story he went into a small wooden house to save 2 kids when the house was on fire. They ended up becoming his two friends.

Oscar is a boy who moves with his mom and a man named Mr. Morrow from a small town called Castle to the big city of Chicago. Oscar wondered off following a girl who stole his bags with his Papa's (who died) badge in it. He ends up across the whole city when a fire starts. He tries to get back but the fires push him and his friends, Bruno and Jennie, off course. When he reaches the other side he sees the hotel is on fire. Will he see his mother AGAIN?!

Overall the book was good. I liked it because of all the action in it. I would recommend it to others. I would also give it 5 stars.

- Brett R.

A note from Mrs. D:

Check out this great video I found while searching for Fire Prevention Week materials! It's from the National Fire Protection Agency and features I Survived author Lauren Tarshis!

I wonder, are you enjoying Wonder? :)

We are in the middle of reading the amazing book Wonder by R.J. Palacio. It's about 5th grader August Pullman who is starting public school for the first time. He's nervous, just like every other kid starting middle school, but Auggie is not your average 5th grader. His face is a bit of a medical mystery.

"I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse."

 I am loving this book and the positive message that it sends. What are your thoughts on the book so far? Since you are also starting middle school, can you relate to Auggie in any way?

Leave your thoughts in the comments below :)

Book Orders!

We are kicking off another school year with a Scholastic Book Order!
There are some great selections in the flyers and online this month. Stop by Scholastic's website and enter code HLDDR to order online. Ordering online gives you the opportunity to explore hundreds of books not featured in the flyers.
Book orders are due on Friday!

(P. S. - What do you think of our new blog design?!)