Brian

__The Wednesday Wars__ by Gary D. Schmidt Brian Gola

I read, “The Wednesday Wars” by Gary D. Schmidt. I think the book is historical fiction because it took place in 1967. I thought book told a normal story because it was kind of like just normal kids life. The plot is very believable because it was just a kid with a pretty normal life. It was kind of hard to concentrate on the book because it wasn’t one of my favorite books, but it wasn’t so bad that I couldn’t concentrate at all. This story takes place at Long Island, New at all. This story takes place at Long Island, New York, for most of the story. The setting does not make the story exciting because most of its at school and school is not exciting. The setting plays a pretty important role in the story to the characters because you would be missing a lot of information if you didn’t know that this was in a school. The problem in, “The Wednesday Wars” is that Holling, the boy, think that his teacher hates him for no reason at all. I learned that if a teacher starts out hating you can make them like you by the end of the year. I thought the author accomplished what he set out to accomplish. The characters seemed more mature at the end of the story because they acted more like adults and they didn’t make big deals out of little things. The chapters ended with small cliff hangers, but not big ones. I would recommend this book for kids who like a story about just a normal kid in school. This book would be best for kids going into sixth grade. I would give the book Two and a half stars out of five because it was too normal, and I would rather have a book that has something that are unreal or exciting.

__The Lightning Thief__  by Rick Riordan

Brian Gola

I read the book “The Lightning Thief” by Rick Riordan. I would say the genre of the book is science fiction. The book tells a great story because it was exciting to read and it had a lot of action. I think the plot is very memorable because it was very interesting. The book was very easy to concentrate on because you are always wandering what will happen next. The setting of the book took place in across the US, down in the Underworld, and up in Olympus. It took place in modern times. The setting helped make the story exciting because the Underworld was very interesting and so was Olympus. The setting helped me understand the story because told me a little bit more that it was about Greek Mythology. The problem in this story is that Zeus’s lightning bolt was stolen and everybody thinks it was Percy Jackson. When Percy found out that he was being accused of stealing the bolt he was sent on a quest to retrieve the bolt. He went down to the Underworld because he thought Hades had it. In the end Percy finds out that Ares, god of war stole it. Percy then fought Ares and brought the bolt back to Zeus before time ran out. I thought “The Lightning Thief” was a great story, possibly my favorite book. I liked it because it had a lot of action and I was always wandering what will happen next. I would recommend this book to anyone between the age of 9-13. This book keeps you interested the whole entire book. Rick Riordan lives in San Antonio, Texas, and has a wife and two children.

__ The Sea of Monsters __  By Rick Riordan Brian Gola

I read the book, “ The Sea of Monsters” by Rick Riordan. This book is probley my new favorite book ever because it has a lot of action and the chapters end with fantastic cliffhangers. I love all books about Greek mythology which is science fiction, but this is my favorite because it kept me very interested the whole book. I will always remember this great book. This book is a book with a lot of traveling in it but most of it happened at sea. The setting really helped tell me that it was about Greek mythology and that a good part was coming up. The book kept me very interested the whole time because it had many surprises which really catches the reader. The characters connect to each other very easily because they were half-bloods and were on quest to get a golden fleece to save there camp. I can kind of relate to the main character because we are about the same age and his personality is a little like mine except he isn’t quite as hyper. The plot of the book was an unbelievable plot because it was it had so much action and some mysteries to it also. I would recommend this book to any kid between the age of 9-14 because it is long, but older teenagers might find it kind of stupid but it isn’t. This books problem is that a tree that protects there camp has been poisoned so that Percy and his friend have to go to an island with a big Cyclops. At this island is Percy’s best friend Grover trapped by the Cyclops and there is a golden fleece that will later on save the tree. This book also teaches kids about Greek mythology easily without them getting bored. These are the reasons this book was my favorite book ever. This book is the second book to Percy Jackson and the Olympians. However, I personally liked it just a tad bit better. These are the best books you will ever read. I gave it a five out of five stars.

__The Hunger Games__ By Suzanne Collins Brian Gola

The Hunger Games was by Suzanne Collins. The genre of the book was survival or action. It was survival or action because they where always struggling to stay alive.The book took place in an arena of the forest. This arena had streams, lakes, rocks, and trees.  The plot of the story was a very believable topic. It is a cruel topic though. It basically is a reaping and whoever name gets picked from the box has to go in an arena or forest. When there in the forest they have to fight till the death. The two kids that went from the poorest district, district 12, where Katniss and Peeta. The book tells a great story.  The theme of this book is a action packed survival story with a great idea. The idea was two have games to make kids fight till the death. This takes a few weeks of burning hot to freezing cold weather. The two kids that won the competition are, “ the star crossed lovers.” The one boy named peeta got his named out of the box at the reaping event, but the other girl Katniss, her sister got picked. Once Katniss’s sister was picked she volunteered to take her position in the Games. They both survived all 22 others in the competition and lived to go home to district 12.  In conclusion I loved this book for all the action and would give it a four out of five stars. I did not give it the fifth star because it takes about 75 pages to get interesting. I would recommend this book from anywhere in between 5th and 7th grade. This book is much like Hatchet except for a higher reading level. **Jackie Robinson**

This is a biography of Jackie Robinson by Mary Linge. This a book based on Jackie Robinson’s hole life. Here is a quote from Mr.Rickey the man who got Robinson on the Brooklyn Dodgers “I am looking for a ball player with guts enough not to fight back.” He is saying to not fight back from the racism that he will receive during baseball. This story takes place in the beginning, where he was raised in California, and many different places because Robinson was in the army so he moved around through out the United States Of America a lot. World War II was going on at this point. And later in the book in was mainly Brooklyn. The Robinson’s lived in an all white neighborhood. The author did a great job righting about the inspiring man, Jackie Robinson. She had very much information for his younger child life that to me was very interesting. This story was a great attention getter, especially to people who like sports like me. This is Backus your first thought is wow hes a great baseball player I guess ill read about him, and the you learn so much more like he wasn't just a normal Hall of Fame man. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I would recommend this book to anyone above the age of nine, so that they know how badly African Americans were treated back then. I would also recommend it to any person who likes baseball but wants to know how it became a nonracial sport. In Conclusion this was one of the most interesting book I have ever read. I would give it a five out of five stars because of how good and how much information.