SCAT

SCAT, by Carl Hiaasen and a 371 page book, is a story that many people should read. Nick has had a boing life along with his best friend Marta. WHen their biology teacher, Mrs. Starch, goes missing everything changes. Nick and Marta go through many adventures from hijacking somebody's car to saving an endangered species of animal. Their biggest mission yet, to find their biology teacher since things have been going a little crazy at the Truman School. Hopefully Nick and Marta will find Mrs. Starch... but that's for YOU to find out!

Death On the NIle

Ahh! It's another scream from the cruise ship sailing along the Nile River, and sadly Linet Doyle has been shot! Death On the Nile, a 252 page thriller written by Agatha Christie full of suspense and death. Linet Doyle has been killed and everyone on the cruise is a suspect. Will detective Hercules Poirot be able to solve the case? Once he does have a clue two other people are shot! Could this be a deadly cruise that nobody should have come on? It is up to Hercules Poirot and the help of his friends to find the real killer and thief on the loose...

Marcelo in the Real World Quickie

Marcelo In the Real World, is a 314 pages story, that is a very touching story about friendship, struggles, love, and troubles in life. A seven-teen year old boy, Marcelo, has always been known as the weird or slow person, and he's getting tired of people telling him that. In order to change that he has to step into the "real world." To do that he needs to work at his father's law firm over summer break which is a big fright for him... To find out what happens to Marcelo read Marcelo In the Real World.

Book Critique (Dragon Road)

A dream that becomes achieved with a basketball and teamwork. This perfectly describes the novel Dragon Road by Laurence Yep. This story is an amazing realistic fiction that keeps you hooked with the very first sentence. Numerous children and maybe some young teens would really enjoy this novel, since hey can relate to it so easily. One of the main characters, Barney, quotes, "Everybody need somebody." This quote very much relates to the main themes of the story, importance of family and teamwork. Calvin (a.k.a Flash), who is the main character, becomes a major basketball player from Chinatown. With the help of his basketball team, Jean, and Grandpa Joe he finally comes across the true meaning of basketball and importance of family. This fabulous story takes place in many different settings., all over America, Chinatown, and many different basketball courts. Although most of his novels are about magic and ballet, this story, Dragon Road, is all about basketball. Reading this book was very different than his other stories but, in conclusion it was a very good story.

Dragon Road is a novel that has many strong points theoughout the story. A very strong point of the story is, how Calvin learns hot to use teamwork. Occasionally, ebing under the spotlight can be a good thing, but in Calvin's case he learns how to share it. Basketball isn't a one man show, everybody has to be part of the game. In the beginning, Calvin takes all the spotlight for himself without sharing with his friends. Once Barney starts to slip away from Calvin, he finally learned that it was time for him to care and share. Overall, this was the strongest point of the story.

Dragon Road is strongly recommended for young audiences and has an important fact of life that most children go thorough. Calvin used to take all the spotlight for himself. Once children reach 7th or 8th grade, they want to be the center of everything. Reading this story can really show them what to do and what not to do with chracters that fascinate them. In conclusion, Dragon Road is an amazing novel that so many children will love.

Dragonwings

A book of courage, perseverance, friendship, and the importance of family, describes Dragonwings precisely. Dragonwings, written by Laurence Yep, is an outstanding book full of an amazing chain of events. This story is about a boy named Moon Shadow, who is from China, is brought to America by his father and his friends. Moon Shadow hasn't seen his father since he was born and has so much to learn bout him. They both stay in America for 7 more years which leads to many events that tell a superb story. I recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys a story that touches your heart.

The Magician's Elephant, by Kate DiCamillo, is a story about friendship and caring for others. This story has 201 pages filled about Peter,the main character,trying to find his sister Adele. Peter runs into characters, such as a policeman, crippled lady, beggar, and a magician that all help him find his sister and even an elephant helps along the way. This is a sweet book that many people would enjoy reading and has many generous characters.

Neighbors Quickie Blog

Neighbors, The destruction of the Jewish community in Jedwabne Poland, by Jan T. gross is an extremely powerful book. This story has 173 pages (without pictures and glossary) filled with information about the war, murder, and after the war for Jews. Neighbors has an important "moral" to teach, it wasn't the Poles or Germans that killed Jews it was their neighbors. Which means their friends or neighbors could have spoken and said this is wrong but instead they remained silent. This is a sad and heartbreaking story to read but it is about what really happened to Jews.