Paul

__ Book Review on No Less Than Victory __

This review will be on __No Less Than Victory__ by Jeff Shaara. The theme is World War II and about a soldier named Benson and how he and his friend Mitchell and their leader Sgt. Higgins barely escape an attack on their squad, and how they survive the winter by traveling and finding other squads. Also, the book has chapters about Eisenhower and Van Rundstedt (German general) about how their controlling their side of the war and how Benson is affected by it. `The book tells a good story of how Benson and his crew escape the Germans more than once and eventually find safety from the army. The plot is believable because this probably happened all the time in WWII. The setting plays an important role in the story because it’s winter in Europe and Benson or his friend or sergeant have to also survive the winter as well as Germans. The story takes place in Europe (they are always travelling) in winter. The setting makes the story exciting because the snow helps a lot with cover, and it tells how the war was like in mid-winter Europe. The theme is three men in the middle of European winter have to survive the war and the cold. The book taught me more about what WWII was like through a soldier’s eye (and sometimes a general’s). Like most war books, the story ends with the soldier getting injured and being sent home. That is pretty much what happened, except Benson gets injured while travelling, and has to travel for a week until they get back to a squad and can be looked over. There were surprises that kept me interested, mainly an ambush and how they either win or escape. The chapters never ended with cliffhangers. The book flowed from one chapter to the next. The dialogue is natural because it is what anyone would say during war at the time they say it. Like when Benson, Mitchell and Higgins were near a road with a German convoy passing, Higgins (the sergeant) said stay down.

The characters connected with each other but never with the reader. It wasn’t even a diary-like book, but more of a narration by the writer. The characters develop throughout the story, manly adapting to each other and the war. I can identify with one of the characters. I would say Mitchell is the most like me, getting mad and shooting a lot of Germans, or being a good leader. Over all, I would give this book 4 out of 5 stars because it was a great book, but there was some time were the guys were just talking, and that kind of bored me, but the rest of the book was great. I recommend this book to people who like war books and from the age 12 and up. I liked this book a lot and recommend you read it.



__ Book Review on The Hunger Games __

I have read the book The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. The main genre of this book is action-drama. The book tells a really good story of a tough girl trying to survive a killer game while also trying to protect her friend through the game, too. The plot is developed because the games are kids killing each other for other people’s enjoyment. The plot was interesting though, because I was focused on the story the whole time I was reading. The story takes place in the future, but the book never says what exact year. The book does say that there was an enormous war that wiped out most of the world, and that its society was built on the ruins of the USA. In the book, the major places of civilization are called districts, but it mostly takes place in an arena that is never told were it is. The arena has the land of a field and forest.The setting in the arena makes the story very exciting. The setting doesn’t really help with the understanding of the story, but plays an important role as to how the characters must react to it. The conflict of the story is that the two main characters must stay alive, when only one is capable of doing it. During the story one of the characters is cut badly in the leg, and is immobile from it. The other, a tough, good hunter, is not excellent at doctoring, but is ok at it. In the end, the two characters make it out alive and well. In the book were a few surprises. That was usually how that chapter ended. Like one time the character was trapped up in a tree, then dropped a killer bees nest on the people who had her up there. But there were no cliff-hangers. The next chapter started up right where the last one left off. The dialogue between the characters is not forced, and very believable. The characters connected a lot between each other, but almost never connected with the reader. Some of the characters changed a lot in the book, like how Peter, one of the main characters, was a gentle boy in the beginning and became an aggressive person towards the end. But the other character, Katniss, stayed the same hunter and person she was until the end. I can’t really identify with any of the characters because each character had a different major talent and personality, and I don’t have any of the talents or personalities the characters do. I would recommend this book to anyone over the age of 11 and who likes drama and action. I would give the book 4 out of 5 stars because there was some really slow parts. The book also taught me that if you want something and don’t stop to get it, you can achieve anything.



 __ Book Review on Sunrise over Fallujah __

Over the summer, I read __Sunrise over Fallujah__ by Walter Dean Myers. The theme was about the beginning of the war in Iraq and a soldier from the CA Units duty in Iraq and what happened there. The year was 2003 and it went from February 27 to June 17. The genre of the book was young adults and it was a really good book. It helped you understand more about the wars in Iraq and what the US Army was doing there. Someone in the book said “there were wars going on here way before we showed up and so far we only made things worse for some people.” This book tells a really life-like view on Iraq through a soldier’s eye, not a tough soldier, but a regular Civilian Affairs soldier. The plot was so believable; I thought the writer was actually in the war. The story was hard to continue reading in the beginning, but about 50 pages in, it got really good and I couldn’t stop reading. The characters were always interacting and never were alone. Robin (aka Birdy) was the main character and the book was written through what he saw, heard, and mostly, thought. The characters develop throughout the story mostly adapting to the war and each other. I can’t identify with any of the characters because they’re all so different from each other yet they’re all good friends and know each other well. There were lots of war related and gang related surprises in the story and only one of them was good; like one time a hummer blew up from a remote bomb on the road, killing three marines. Only a few chapters ended with cliff hangers. Most of the time the chapters flowed from one to the other. The dialogues perfectly fit all the characters conversations about the subjects they had and if one person didn’t understand it they quickly did. In the end this book is very good. I would give it 5 out of 5 stars because from the beginning to the end, everything perfectly fits the book and I like books that make sense. I would recommend this book to people who want learn what the war in Iraq is like. If you’re thinking about reading this book, then do it but this book is VERY life like about war so be ready. All in all, this book is really good with a good ending.



__ Book Review on The Wednesday Wars __

Over the summer, I read __The Wednesday Wars__ by Gary D. Schmidt. The main theme was about a 7th grade boy named Holling Hoodhood going through a school year and what happens to him. His problem is that every Wednesday, he has to stay alone with a teacher who hates him. Towards the end, the teacher starts to like Holling, so the author did accomplish what he set out to do. One time the class thought that Holling ate a cream puff when the whole class was dying to have one so one kid says, “If you don’t bring us all cream puffs in 3 weeks, you’re dead Holling!” The book tells a good story, but I’ve read better books. I think the plot is half developed, half believable because the parts I believe is like that when Holling had to stay at school every afternoon because of his religion because everybody went to their church for a religious class. The part I didn’t believe is like when two rats chased only him around and didn’t run and hide. I think the book hooked me from the beginning and I thought only about the book while reading. The story takes place in a small town outside of New York and the year is 1967. The setting doesn’t really make the story exciting, but the setting does play an important role in the book, like how everyone is reacting to the war. The characters in the book were some-what interactive with each other, but mainly the whole book was based on what Holling thought and did. The characters develop a lot throughout the story, like in the beginning Holling is a horrible runner, and then later he is the fastest cross-country runner in the area. I can’t really identify with any of the characters in the book because they are all so unique, but the person I think I relate to the most is Danny Hupfur because he and I like sports and we both do well in school but don’t like it as much. In the end the story was good with some surprises here and there but the chapters always ended with cliff hangers, and I don’t like cliff hangers. I liked the book because what Holling does sounds like the ultimate 7th grade year that can be easily done by anyone. I also liked it because the dialogues between the characters were believable. I learned from this book that even with a teacher that hates you, you can still have fun in school. I would give this book 4 out of 5 stars because it was good but I’ve read better books. I would recommend this book for kids in 5th, 6th, or 7th grade but anybody can read it. In the end, it’s a pretty good book and I suggest reading it if you’re looking for a good book to read.



Book Review on Winston Churchill For this trimester, I read a biography about Winston Churchill by Brenda Haugen. The type of this book is biography. The theme is about Winston Churchill. The book was very informational as I learned a lot more about Winston Churchill. There were some things that kept me interested. Like when Winston was a boy and playing a game with his cousins, he became cornered on a bridge and jumped off. It showed that he would never give up, even when all odds were against him. The chapters ended with a small sentence about the next chapter and what happened in the chapter. The book is a very good biography and tells a lot about Churchill’s life. How the book describes Churchill’s life is very believable because he did a lot of brave things and was a good leader, and the book describes how he became a good leader. Except for the interesting parts, like when Churchill escaped his prisoner camp during WWI, it was hard to concentrate on the story. I was focused on the story for about half of it. The biography took place during Churchill’s life (1874-1965), and he lived in Europe which meant the story was in Europe. The major points in the story were WWI and WWII, which is when Churchill helped Europe get through it. The theme of the book is Winston Churchill’s life and what he did during WWII. The book taught me a lot about Churchill’s life. I think the author accomplished what she set out to do, which was to teach readers as much as possible about Churchill’s life. The characters never connected with the reader. It was like a narrator talking to me, which is fine for a biography. ====I would give this book 5 out of 5 stars (for a biography). The point of a biography is to teach you about that person, which is what it does. I enjoyed this book because it was very informational and I learned a lot about Churchill. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to know about Winston Churchill. ====