Saturday, August 9, 2014

Books Read in August or Anytime this Summer

I can't believe that it's already August 9.   I hope you're finding some time to read!  I know that your 7th grade teachers will be interested in hearing about the books you read this summer.

Try to read at least three books during the summer.  Post the book title, author, and your rating.  You might also want to include the genre.

Feel free to share your thoughts about the book, but remember you don't have to post a lengthy review.   You might choose to use a star rating system of 1 - 5 stars, with 5 stars being the best book you've ever read, and 1 star indicating that you didn't like the book.

If you have trouble commenting on this post, email your comments to me (Ramona.Behnke@mercerislandschools.org), and I'll post them on the blog.

Even though your book review will show up as a comment on this post,  I'll make a separate blog post for each of you who submit book reviews.  So far that includes Sophia K. and Callum M. (one student from the 1/2 block and one student from the 4/5 block).  Let's see which class can have the most posts for the summer.  I'm hoping to see your name in the title of a blog post soon.  Share what you've been reading and encourage others to read good books too!

Happy reading!

10 comments:

  1. Zebra Forest, Adina Rishe Gerwirtz, 4/5

    This book was exiting and interesting to read! Some parts got too descriptive but mostly the story stayed thrilling!


    Almost Home, Joan Bauer, 4/5

    In Almost Home the characters really come to life. This is one of those books that can make you cry after just a few chapters.


    Flora and Ulysses, Kate DiCamillo, 3/5

    In this book the story never loses energy! The only problem I had was that in some parts the story could get hard to follow.

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    1. Ellie, I'm so excited that your comments finally showed up. Joan Bauer is one of my favorite authors. Be sure that you read Rules of the Road, also by Joan Bauer. I'm glad that you liked Zebra Forest, one of our Mock Newbery books for 2014. I agree with you that Flora and Ulysses, Newbery winner for last year, was filled with energy. I liked this book more than I expected to. I'm hoping you'll find a five star read before the summer's over (that gives you until Sept. 22). What's your favorite book ever? I want to help you discover that perfect summer read! Keep reading, and thanks for posting!

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  2. The Forbidden Library by Django Wexler
    I started this book in July, kept it past the due date because I couldn't renew it (it was on hold for someone else), and still didn't finish it before my trip to NY. So when I got to NY, my daughter requested it from her library, and I finished it while I was there.
    I love stores that have libraries in the title (Mr. Lemoncello's Library, Help I'm a Prisoner in the Library), so this title appealed to me. It's a fantasy complete with talking cats, bookshelves that move and a menacing fairy. It's a bit like the series Inkheart. The ending leaves you thinking that the author may be writing a sequel. I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.

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    1. Correction: I love stories (not stores)that have libraries in the title... (There's no way to edit comments)

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  3. Another book review from Callum:

    A Book review for The Dark Secret

    The Dark Secret is the fourth installment in the book series Wings of Fire. It is about five dragons, the dragonets of destiny, and their quest to stop the world war between tribes by choosing a queen of the Sandwings tribe. There is also the Rainwings, Seawings, Nightwings, Icewing, Mudwings, and Skywings. The dragonets are Starflight, a Nightwing, Tsunami, a Seawing, Glory, a Rainwing, Clay, a Mudwing, and Sunny, a Sandwing. This book is focused on Starflight and the Nightwings. He gets kidnapped and is taken to the kingdom of the Nightwings, which no other tribe knows about.
    He finds out that the Nightwings have a set of backup dragonets to fight in the originals place. He becomes friends with the Nightwing in the group. They both didn’t grow up on the volcanic island, so they both want to escape. They learn that the Nightwings are planning on attacking the Rainwings and taking over their kingdom. They team up to try and stop them.
    I really like these books because I really want to find out which bratty queen they choose. Trust me-none seem like a good fit. I would read this book if you like fantasy. I would also recommend reading the other books first. I really want to read the next book in the series.
    -Callum M.

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    1. Callum, it's fun to see your continued interest in fantasy. I'm glad that you enjoy this fantasy. It sounds to me like it would be a good fit for anyone who enjoyed the Warrior Cat series. Do you agree? Thanks for posting. I hope to see you Wednesday night at the library for our End-of-Summer book club meeting.

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  4. Circa Now by Amber McRee Turner is a great book filled with magic, humor, and a LOT of funny pictures!! In the beginning of the book, Circa Monroe's father dies in a tragic tornado. Throughout this book Circa has to handle with her fathers death, her mothers depression, and a strange boy showing up at her doorstep that doesn't remember anything from his past.

    Circa and her mother take the boy in and find out many interesting snippets of his past. Meanwhile, Circa plays with her fathers photo editing technology that he used to use for his job (he restored old photos). Suddenly, everything she edits turns up in real life! Miles's past becomes more and more tangled with her edits and it's going to take a lot more than an undo button to fix it.

    Rating: 5/5

    -Olivia

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    1. Olivia came to our End-of-Summer Book Club at the library. She is an incoming sixth grader. Ms. Bowman and myself enjoyed talking with her about the books she's read this summer. I haven't read this one yet, but it's on my list. Thanks for posting, Olivia!

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  5. I read a book called half brother written by the author Kenneth Oppel. I found half brother captivating in so many ways. Every time I tried to put the book down I failed to do so and picked it back up again. The main character Ben Tomlin's life gets turned upside down when a chimpanzee named Zan unexpectedly becomes a so/called family member. Zan is part of his fathers experiment to see if animals can acquire language. He said in order for Zan to learn sign language they must treat him exactly like a human. Overtime Ben's relationship with Zan grows stronger and stronger, until Ben insists that Zan is his brother. Meanwhile Ben begins to truly hate his dad. He had said to Zan that he was his father but now Ben realizes that Zan was nothing more than a test subject to his father, and in his dads eyes Zan belongs to science. But Ben has bigger problems. Problems meaning he might lose Zan forever. This book was outstanding.

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    1. Liliana, another sixth grader, attended our End-of-Summer Book Club at the public library. It was fun to discuss the books she's read, plus she planned some future reading from the books Ms.Bowman and I discussed. We were excited to meet her and share book ideas. Thanks for posting, Liliana!

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