Sam

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne is a fiction novel about a nine year old boy named Bruno. He lives in Germany during World War II. One day Bruno’s father, who is a highly ranked officer in the German army, came home with news of his new assignment. The family needs to move from their beautiful Berlin city mansion to a country home.  Once they arrived, Bruno was sad; he missed his old home and his friends. His parents told him not to leave the property which was surrounded by a fence. One day, Bruno was bored and looking for an adventure. He ignored his parent rule and found a way to get into the woods. He explored the woods for a while until he found a mysterious fence. There was a boy his age on the other side.  Nearly every day, Bruno left his home to visit the boy on the other side of the fence. They learned a lot about each other, and discovered they both had a lot in common. As a result they <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">became friends and wanted to play together. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> I would rate this book 4 out of 5 <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">stars because it was a good book that was historically based. It also gave a <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">child’s perspective of war. I would recommend this book to all people because <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">it was based during World War II and describes that we are all human. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 18.66px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Wednesday Wars ** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">**<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 18.66px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> By ** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">**<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 18.66px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Gary D. Schmidt ** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">**<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 18.66px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Report by Sam Rose ** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">is an excellent novel about a boy named Holling Hoodhood who is entering <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">seventh grade at Camillo Junior High in New York City the fall of 1967. The <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">main theme of the story is about Holling and his relationship with his teacher Mrs <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Baker. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> In the beginning, of the story <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Holling thought that she was purposely being mean towards him because Mrs. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Baker gave Holling an assignment outside of class. He was to read countless <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">plays that were written by Shakespeare. This happened every Wednesday afternoon, <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">all of the Catholic and Jewish kids in Holling’s class left early to attend religious <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">classes. Yet, since Holling was the only Presbyterian kid in the whole class he <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">did not attend the classes. This meant that Holling had to stay with Mrs. Baker <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">until school was finished. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> During these sessions, Holling was <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">given quizzes after every time that he was finished reading one of <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Shakespeare’s plays. Mrs. Baker wanted to make sure that Holling was truly <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">reading. Holling thought she was being mean. Eventually, he realized Mrs. Baker <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">was only trying to help him. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> In <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">my opinion, I would give this book 4<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11.06px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">1 /<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11.06px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">2 out of 5 stars because <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">it was a funny and an interesting book. It was really good. I would recommend this <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">book because it told a story about how things can change so quickly. I say this <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">because at first Holling thought of Mrs. Baker as a mean teacher but before he <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">knew it, he thought of her as a nice teacher who helped change his life. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> __Patton__
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 18.66px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 18.66px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> By ****<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 18.66px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">John Bonne  **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 18.66px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Report by Sam Rose **

By: Alan Axelrod

Book review By Sam Rose

__Patton__ By Alan Axelrod is a biography of General George S. Patton and the accomplishments in his life. The genre of this book is a biography. The main theme is General Patton's life and how he served his country in a historic way. This is a wonderful book. Patton was a strict military commander. From an early age he worked hard and earned that position.

I liked this book because the author did an excellent job of summarizing Patton's historic and amazing army life. I thought that this book would not the easy to read because I am not too familiar to biographies compared to other books. Yet, I still enjoyed the experience. This story takes place in America, Italy, North Africa and France during World Worlds I and II.

The main problem for Patton is peacetime. Peacetime was an issue for Patton because he HATED peacetime. Patton was a born a fighter. He had the passion and desire to fight and protect his country. Patton was so eager to fight that he "prayed' for more war after the First World War. He was afraid and thought that over long peacetime periods, he would grow old and get out of shape and overweight.

The style of the book was written in the third person. This book is filled with vivid moments and intriguing adjectives. Most historical biographies can be very long, yet this book was able to provide information in fewer than 200 pages. The author of this book, Alan Axelrod has written many other books, including a biography on Winston Churchill; Thomas Edison; and Queen Elisabeth I.

I would recommend this book to anybody interested in army tactics and life. I would rate this book 4 out of 5 stars.



__The Boy Who Dared__ By Susan Campbell Bartoletti

Book Review by Sam Rose

__The Boy Who Dared__ By Susan Campbell Bartoletti is a book about a boy by the name of Helmuth Hübener and his struggles in life during WWII. The genre of the book is historical fiction. The main theme of the book is Helmuth's rebellion against the Nazis. This is a fabulous book. Helmuth stood up for what he believed in, despite what the Nazis believed in and wanted.

I liked the book because it told an excellent story about the true life and death story of Helmuth Hubener. In my opinion, it was fairly easy book to read because I enjoy historical books based on WWII. The story mostly takes place in Hamburg and Berlin, Germany. While the setting is interesting because it reflects on a very difficult time and place in history.

The main problem is when Helmuth distributes papers identified as illegal by the German government. He learns of this because his brother had a foreign radio. When his brother was drafted into the German Army, Helmuth took the radio and listened to it at night. He was later confronted by the German government, which resulted an extreme punishment of the times. My favorite character in the book was Helmuth. He is very similar to me in that I stand up for what I believe in. Even if it is not what others agree with. If I was in his situation then I would have done the same thing as he did.

The style of the book was in the third person. This made the book more believable and factual. The author used vivid adjectives, which made the reader easily visualize the story. The author has written many books. She has focused on child labor; coal mines workers, Irish Famine, Hitler Youth (those who followed his beliefs and those who went against him) and now on the KKK. Susan Campbell Bartoletti was born in Pennsylvania and has won many writing awards.

I would recommend this book to anybody interested in WWII historical fiction books. As well as, to people who can identify with others who stand up for their beliefs despite the outcome. I would rate this book 4.5 out of 5 stars.

__The Hunger Games__ By Suzanne Collins

Book Review by Sam Rose

__The Hunger Games__ is a story of the pain and struggle of Katniss Everdeen; she is a sixteen year old girl. Panem is a cruel place with no freedom. The hunger games are a savage game in which 24 tributes from all districts participate in a silly way to show the people how much control they have over the people. On the day of the reaping, all of the districts gather in their best clothes, and gather at their local square or common place. Every name belonging to the girls and boys from the age twelve to eighteen are entered into drawing. From every district two children, one boy and one girl. There are twelve districts. The Capital is nervous of rebellions because district thirteen attempted to rebel, but were unsuccessful. All of the children that are chosen children are brought to the capital to train for the games. Then they are brought to an arena to fight to the death on live TV.......This book is excellent. The main theme is Katniss fighting at the games and the genre is science fiction.

I liked this book because it was very surprising. As I turned the page, I didn't know what was going to happen next. __The Hunger Games__ tells a story of the harsh capital and Katniss fighting in the Hunger Games. At the beginning of the story I thought it was very boring. As I read more I began to change my mind. Eventually I completely regretted that remark. This story takes place in Panem, a country that takes place in remains of what was America.

There are so many problems in this book while I think, the most important is on the day of the reaping Katniss’s sister Prim’s name was chosen. She is a twelve year old girl. Katniss and Prim live in district twelve which is one of the poorest districts. Katniss was so angry, so she volunteered for her. When, Katniss entered the Hunger Games that was her strategy for the games was to hide, take shelter and shot people done with a bow and arrow, her main skill. This is smart, but not easy. She found shelter but was attacked and had to relocate a new place to hide.

The style of this book was in the first person. I thought it was pretty easy to read the end rather than the beginning. The Author used very intense and gruesome adjectives. She made the book sound so vivid and real. Suzanne Collins is the author of the 2nd and 3rd Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay.

I would recommend this book to young adult that is looking for a great adventure book. I would rate this book 4 out of 5 stars because the beginning was enjoyable. I will also be reading the next two books!