Taylor

__ Ginger Pye __ By Eleanor Estes

Over the summer, I read a book called __Ginger Pye__ by Eleanor Estes. The main characters of this book were a ten year old boy named Jerry Pye and his younger sister named Rachel Pye. On Thanksgiving Day, their dog Ginger was stolen, and they looked desperately for their missing dog for seven months. On Jerry’s birthday, in May, Ginger was returned to the family. The thief turned out to be a boy in Jerry’s class named Wally Bullwinkle who wanted Ginger Pye because he saw how talented Ginger was. For instance Ginger carried Jerry’s pencil up the school’s fire escape to return it to Jerry. Therefore, Wally wanted to bring Ginger to the circus to make his family money. This book was realistic fiction because much of the book could have happened in real life, like dogs being taken from their owners.

Ginger was dog napped on Thanksgiving Day from their backyard while the family was eating dinner. The family thought Ginger ran away, but as the months passed they started to believe he was stolen. This story’s theme was that a person should never give up on what they started. For example, Jerry and Rachel looked for their beloved dog in the same places almost every day, even in mountain caves! The return of Ginger led to the best surprise of the story. Jerry and Rachel were walking home from school and feeling down as all hope seemed lost in finding Ginger when there he was sitting in their front lawn waiting for them. Their grandma rescued Ginger when she saw him tied up in the Bullwinkle’s backyard right before Wally was planning to take him to the circus in New York. She quickly untied him and brought him home. In conclusion, I think that this book would be good for anyone who loves adventure and mystery. This book is most appropriate for children over six years old but even adults would like it! I truly enjoyed reading this book because it led me on a fun journey, and I take pleasure in a good story about dogs. I would give this book five out of five stars.

Taylor Erickson September 7, 2010

__ The Wednesday Wars __ By Gary D. Schmidt

“Toads, Beetles, Bats” has been stuck in my mind all summer. It was a quote that the main character said repeatedly in my summer reading book. I read the book titled, __The Wednesday Wars__ by Gary D. Schmidt. This was a realistic fiction because this story could have happened to a middle school boy in real life. However, the characters and the school were fictional. __The Wednesday Wars__ was about a boy named Holling HoodHood who was making his way through seventh grade fine until his teacher Mrs. Baker makes him stay after class time on Wednesdays to read many of Shakespeare’s plays. The setting of this story was in a middle school on Long Island in 1967. This setting made the story exciting in some ways. For an example the Vietnam War was going on, so the class had to practice if the enemy planned to drop a bomb near the school. Today, students do not have bomb shelter drills. The middle school setting was very interesting because I can relate to how Holling was feeling, as I am entering middle school myself. There were many parts in the book that kept the reader interested in the story. The part I enjoyed the most was when Holling got a part in the Shakespeare play, //The Tempest//. The big surprise was that Holling was casted to be the Fairy, named Ariel, in the play. He needed to wear bright yellow tights and feathers on his backside for his costume, in front of his classmates! Another part that I liked was when Holling and his classmates went camping and heard a story about the poisonous snakes. So Holling and his classmates stayed up all night watching out for snakes. However, I did not like the part when the father mistreated the daughter and she ran away. That part made me feel sad because the daughter should get the privilege to make her own decisions and she should get to go to college. This book could be enjoyed by almost any reader over 10 years old. The author told the story in such a way, with a lot of detail and excitement that I could not put the book down. I believed the author’s message was that a teacher could care a lot more for a student’s well being than if he received a good grade on his assignments or not. Another message was to be kind to each other no matter what they look like. For example, Mrs. Bigio was not kind to Mai Thi because she was Vietnamese and Mrs. Bigio did not support the war, but later on she was kinder when she realized how mean she had been to Mai Thi and offered Mai Thi to stay with her.

Holling used the saying “Toads, Beetles, Bats” when he got a bad grade or when something turned out wrong. Over the months, Holling had to stay after school on Wednesday to read Shakespeare. Instead of saying the real curse words, he used the code phrases or words from Shakespeare’s writings. Holling learned something from Shakespeare and the staying after school on Wednesdays was not that bad at all. I would highly recommend this book and give this book 4 ½ stars.

Taylor Erickson September 7, 2010

Stealing Freedom By: Elisa Carbone Book Review By: Taylor Erickson

__ Stealing Freedom __ By Elisa Carbone

For this trimester, I read a book called __Stealing Freedom__ by Elisa Carbone. The main character in this book was a slave named Anna Marie Weems. When Anna Marie was twelve, she was separated from her family. Anna Marie traveled with Master Charles and Mistress Carol, to Rockville, Maryland. She was responsible for household chores and entertained Mistress Carol’s niece, Miss Sarah. Jacob Bigelow, the man who bought her parent’s and sister’s freedom, told Anna Marie that she would have to steal her own freedom because Master Charles kept raising the price for how much money he wants for Anna Marie. Anna Marie traveled her way to freedom using the Underground Railroad. After a few months, she soon was living free in Canada with her uncle and aunt. The problem in this book was when Anna Marie was separated from her family. Jacob Bigelow was buying her family’s freedom because Anna Marie’s family did not want to risk the chance of being caught if they ran away, so they asked Jacob to buy their freedom for them. Master Charles agreed to sell the mother and Catherine (Anna Marie’s sister), but Master Charles didn’t agree to sell Anna Marie because Mistress Carol still needed help with the household duties. Therefore, Anna Marie needed to work without any help around the house. She worked very hard! Anna Marie had to do everything such as cooking, making beds, washing dishes, walking Miss Sarah to school, and other such chores. The solution to the problem was that Anna Marie gathered her courage and ran away to get her freedom that was rightfully hers. She had help from Jacob Bigelow and William Still and others who were either free or white. At one point, Anna Marie was disguised as a boy to hide who she really was. She traveled many miles by various transportation methods: foot, horse and buggy, and train. Finally, Anna Marie found her relatives and her freedom in Canada. I liked this book because it was interesting to read about someone’s life story and how she managed to live it and overcame major hurdles of being once a slave. The saddest part was when Anna Marie was separated from her family, but this caused her to start her way to freedom. One of the suspenseful moments of this book was when Anna Marie was on the train when the slave catchers boarded the train to make sure there were no slaves aboard, who were about to become free. The dogs barked at Anna Marie’s helper and to save them she said “Uncle, why do you keep your lunch in your pocket?” Even though her helper was not her uncle. Anna Marie was saved from going back to slavery and saved her helper. Although her travels took her a couple months and many miles, I was very relieved when she decided to leave her slavery life. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys adventure because this book was quite a journey. The reader will admire Anna Marie’s bravery and wit to successfully make it to Canada. I would give this book 5 out of 5 stars because I love a book with an exhilarating adventure.

Taylor Erickson November 9, 2010

The House of the Scorpion Nancy Farmer For this trimester I read a book called __The House of the Scorpion__ by Nancy Farmer. The main character in this book is a clone named Matt. To other people in this book a clone is a disgusting and dangerous animal. Since Matt was a clone, he was treated like an animal. However Matt’s DNA comes from a high ruler named El Patron who is over 100 years old. What Matt does not know is that he was created for spare body parts. When Matt was 14, El Patron had heart problems and wanted to use Matt’s heart. Before any further ado, El Patron died. Matt then ran away for he had no use for the family anymore and is supposed to be killed. Matt ends up in finding Maria, his closest friend in the end of the book.

The problem in this story is that nobody treats Matt fair. For example when people first knew that Matt was a clone, one of the maids, named Rosa had to take care of him. Rosa was very mean to Matt. She fed him scraps from the earlier dinner and called him names. Then she made a pen and put it outside and through Matt in it. Matt was kept like that for 6 months. Finally Celia, the one who treats him like an angel, discovered what was happening and rescued Matt. Rosa was later turned into an eejit, which is someone or something that cant do anything without an order.

The solution to this problem is when Matt ran away. Matt ran away because he was no use to the Alacran family anymore now that El Patron is gone. The only three people that are loyal to Matt are Tam Lin, the body guard, Celia, and Maria. When Matt is told to run, he runs! He is found by the Aztlan guards and taken into work. The turn out to be not so nice and Matt and his friends that he met at where he was working. He ran to San Luis where he is reunited with Maria. When he returns home with Maria he finds out that a lot of people died in a bomb situation such as Tam Lin. It is very sad but, now Matteo Alacran is the New Ruler.

I loved this book because it was interesting to hear about some one's life story who was treated differently. Also because it grabbed my attention in the first chapter when they talked about how he was harvested. The saddest part was when Matt was called an “it” and treated badly. Also when he was about to b operated on to save El Patron’s life. The most suspenseful part in the book was when Chacho, Matt’s friend, and Matt where put in the bone yard. When a child is being bad they are put into the bone yard where they could possibly die. This part reminds me about <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">__The Hunger Games__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">when kids have to fight to their death. Chacho is severely injured and super confused when he gets out of the hospital, almost like Finnick.

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves cliffhangers at the end of the book because there are lot of them. I would also recommend this book to anyone who loves adventure. Anyone who reads this book will admire Matt’s courage into discovering how his life works. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars because this is the most extraordinary, exciting, adventurous book I have ever read. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> __ Walt Disney  __ By: Whitney Stewart Report by: Taylor Erickson For this trimester, I chose to read the biography of __Walt Disney__ by Whitney Stewart. This biography was very informative where the author covered Walt Disney’s life from his birth in 1901 to his death in 1966. I have been to Disney World in Orlando, Florida, so it was enjoyable to read about the man with the Disney idea. An interesting fact mentioned in this book was that the Disney Family was poor; from a very early age, Walt needed to work to support the family. Almost as soon as Walt could hold a pencil, Walt would spend hours drawing with his proudest possessions: crayons and drawing paper. He started to earn money with what Walt called,// Laugh-o-grams //, which were short films that only lasted a few minutes. Walt was successful with selling his laugh-o-grams but started to think bigger. He decided to go to a place where dreams come true and movies are made. Hollywood. Walt Disney had a tough time selling his cartoons at first, until he and some friends created Oswald, the lucky rabbit. Oswald was a hit. After the success of Oswald, Walt had a great idea for a new character. His new cartoon character was going to be a mouse. Walt wanted the mouse’s name to be Mortimer, but his wife did not like the name, so she suggested “Mickey”. This is how Mickey Mouse was born. By 1930, Technicolor was producing good color film for movies. Walt was so excited to start having his work in color. His first piece in color was called // ‘Flowers and Trees’ //. Walt decided to make another movie and came up with the name Snow White. It took a long time to create Snow White. Finally, in 1937, __Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs__ opened. Snow White has been known as the greatest movie Walt ever created. Walt even won an Academy Award for this production. After being successful in the cartooning business, Walt decided to build an amusement park with his cartoons being highlighted. Disneyland opened on July 17, 1955. People all over the world were flocking “Disneyland”. The place was a new concept and was a huge hit. Disney started his plans for a bigger, better amusement park in Florida named “Disney World”. Sadly, Walt Disney never lived to see the opening “Disney World” in 1970 because Walt died at the age of sixty-five years old in 1966. The most interesting fact that I learned about Walt Disney was that when Walt was a boy, he brought in a field mouse he caught into class. That field mouse made Walt famous for a day; however, he did not know that another mouse, named Mickey was going to make him famous all around the world. I wished the author had spent more time describing more about how Walt made his drawings. I would give this book 4 out of 5 stars because some points the biography kept my attention but other parts of the book were boring. I believe that Walt Disney should be considered as one of the most creative men in the 1900’s.