Juliana

 __**Michelle Obama Book Review**__

**By: Juliana Romeo**  **Author: David Bergen**  **Rating: 4 out 5 starts**  **Link:** []

Did you know that Michelle Obama skipped second grade? Michelle Obama was born on January 17, 1964. She was smart, pretty, friendly, and a great leader. She went from living in Chicago to the White House. In that time period she did a lot of things that make her a role model to me.

Michelle Obama was an extremely smart person. She went to Princeton for college. She went to Harvard Law School for graduate school. After graduate school Michelle worked for Sidley Austin in Chicago in 1988. Sidley Austin was a large corporate law firm. In the summer of 1988 Michelle was assigned to be a mentor to Barack Obama. Back then, Barack was a first year law student at Harvard. At first Michelle did not like Barack. Lawyers at Sidley Austin said he was brilliant. Michelle thought he was too good to be true. Soon after, Michelle and Barack started dating.

After working at Sidley Austin for three years, Michelle Obama accepted a position on the staff of Chicago’s mayor, Richard Daley. In 1991 Barack proposed to Michelle and she said yes. They got married in October 1992 in Chicago. In 1993, Michelle switched jobs again. She went to work for Public Allies. Their mission is to train young people to serve in the area of public service. In 1996 Michelle changed jobs again. She became the Dean of Student Services at the University of Chicago. In 1999 Malia Obama was born. In 2001 Natasha Obama was born. In November 2004 Barak was elected U.S senator representing the state of Illinois. This made it hard for the Obama's, because Barack was always back and forth between D.C and Chicago.

In 2007, Barack ran for President of the United States. Since so much was going on, Michelle decided to quit her job at the University of Chicago. As Michelle said, the whole family was running for president. Michelle gave many speeches about the presidential election. At the 2008 Democratic National Convention Michelle gave a wonderful speech called “One Nation”. In 2008, the Obama’s won the presidential election. Barack was inaugurated in Washington D.C on January 20, 2009. Since becoming the First Lady, Michelle Obama has become well known for her compassion, intelligence, and style. I think Michelle Obama is a great person. I will always look up to her.

I give this book four out of five stars. I give it this rating because I felt like it was a great book but not an amazing book. It gave you a great understanding of her life. I think the book did not talk a lot about running for president, which I was hoping to hear more about in this book. I would recommend this book to anyone who like Michelle Obama. It is a quick read and a great biography.



**//__ The Hunger Games __//****__ Book Review __** __ Author: Suzanne Collins __ __ By: Juliana Romeo __ __ Due Date: 2/11/11 __ Link:[] __ The Hunger Games __ is an extreme book. Some parts of the book are hard to read because they are so sad. __The Hunger Games__ is about a 16 year old girl named Katniss Everdeen. She lives in the fictional nation of Panem, which has twelve districts. Katniss lives in a town called The Seam in District Twelve. Each year The Capitol (the capitol of Panem) forces each district to pick a boy and a girl to compete in the annual Hunger Games. The people in the Hunger Games have to be ages 12-18. In the Hunger Games, all the contestants have to survive in the wilderness and fight until only one of them is left alive. The Hunger Games are broadcast on television across Panem. The Capitol holds the Hunger Games to show the citizens of Panem that the government has power over them. Katniss dislikes The Capitol very much.

The two District Twelve contestants picked for the Hunger Games are Prim Everdeen and Peeta Mellark. Prim is Katniss’s younger sister who is only 12 years old. Katniss steps up and takes Prim’s spot in the Hunger Games because she knows that Prim would not survive for very long in them, and she is stronger. Peeta and Katniss go to the Capitol and prepare for the Hunger Games. They go through carriage rides to the Training Center, interviews, and training. The Games begin. Peeta and Katniss go through a lot of ups and downs. I do not want to say any more because it will give the ending away.

I enjoyed __The Hunger Games__ because it is a mix of romance and adventure. Another reason I enjoyed __The Hunger Games__ is because each chapter ends with something that has you wanting to read more. A third reason I enjoyed Hunger Games is because of the action. There is never a part of the Hunger Games when nothing is going on. There is something always happening. I think that even if you do not enjoy reading survival books, you would enjoy __The Hunger Games__.

My favorite characters in __The Hunger Games__ are Katniss and Rue. Rue is the youngest girl in the Hunger Games. She is from District 11. Katniss and Rue become allies in The Hunger Games. Rue reminds Katniss of her little sister, Prim. They work hard to take care of each other. Katniss is one of my favorite characters because she is brave, strong, kind, adventurous, thoughtful, and clever. One thing that Katniss did that made me like her was that she took her sister’s spot in the Hunger Games. I think that would be a very hard thing to do. In the book __The Hunger Games__, I learned that even if you have nothing, you shouldn't give up. For example, Katniss’s mom gave up on taking care of her kids after her husband died. Katniss didn’t believe that she would be able to compete in the Hunger Games, but she tried her hardest and did not give up. **Book Review of** //__**The Dare**__//

__ate: November 3, 2010__

__Book Author: R.L Stine__

__Book Review Author: Juliana Romeo__

__Rating: 5 Stars__ __Link:__ []

The book __The Dare__ is a magnificent book. The plot of this story is that there is a high school girl, Johanna who really wants to hang out with the kids who are rich and popular. They always like to dare each other to do dumb things. Johanna says that she would do anything to be their friends. One of the boys in the group, Dennis, dares her to murder their history teacher, Mr. Northwood. Dennis wants Mr. Northwood dead because he has been keeping Dennis from being able to join the all-star track team. Johanna wants to be their friends so badly that she decides to murder Mr. Northwood. To know what happens next, you will have to read the book.

I like this book because it always made me want to read more. I loved this book so much it took me only a day to read. One reason I like this book is because it is about a girl around my age and I can relate to her about some things. Another reason I like this book is because it gives a lot of details about each person so you can really picture them in your head. My absolute favorite thing about this book is that it is about a murder which is always fascinating. My favorite character in this story is Margret. Margret is Johanna’s best friend. She was very angry when Johanna wanted to hang out with the rich and popular kids. When Johanna lied about being sick and she was actually hanging out with the rich and popular kids, Margret brought her a hot bowl of soup to make her feel better. She was disappointed to see that Johanna was lying. I think Margret is a great friend and I wish I had a friend like her.

I learned a few important lessons while reading __The Dare__. I learned that you never know who you can trust. Johanna trusted Dennis, but he betrayed her. I learned that true friends are always there for you, just like Margret was always there for Johanna, even when Johanna ignored Margret. I also learned that some dares can go too far and get people in trouble. For example, people started betting to see if Johanna was actually going to murder Mr. Northwood.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes interesting, exciting mysteries. I would put, __The Dare__ on my list of my five favorite books. I look forward to reading other books by R.L Stine. I think he is a great mystery author.

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__ The Wednesday Wars __ was a fascinating book to me for many reasons. First, I liked that it was about a kid around my age who was growing up in the 1960s. This was a very interesting time because America was fighting in the Vietnam War. Second, the main character, Holling Hoodhood, at first thought his teacher, Mrs. Baker, was out to get him. It turned out she was very fond of him. He thought she didn’t like him because she always rolled her eyes at him and he felt she always gave him hard questions. Soon, he realized she did like him because she took him to the hospital when he was hurt, went with him to a baseball game when his dad couldn’t come, and always was there to help him. Mrs. Baker taught him how to run better, and she invited some professional baseball players to come to the school and play baseball with Holling and his friends. Another reason Holling knew Mrs. Baker liked him is that every Wednesday after the other kids went to the Jewish school or the Catholic school, Mrs. Baker had Holling read Shakespeare, which he really liked. Finally, I found this book fascinating because it also told the story of Mrs. Baker’s husband in Vietnam. Mrs. Baker got a telegram saying that his helicopter went down and he was missing in action. Later she got a telegram from him saying he was alive. Even though Mrs. Baker was going through this, she was still a great teacher. ======

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One of the most interesting characters in this book is Mai Thi. She was born in Vietnam and a church sponsored her and took her to the U.S during the Vietnam War. She went to the same school as Holling. I liked that the cook, Mrs. Bigio, made Vietnamese food to share with the class to make Mai Thi feel at home. My family has a friend, like Mai Thi, who was born in Vietnam and was sponsored by a church and was brought to the U.S. ======

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The title __The Wednesday Wars__ has several meanings. First, it gives a hint that this book will have something to do with war. It also refers to the way Holling felt about the Wednesday afternoons with Mrs. Baker. When he thought she didn’t like him he thought of it as a war. Later when he knew she liked him, he looked forward to Wednesday afternoons. ======

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This book taught me about life in the 1960s, the Vietnam War, and that relationships can change for the better. I would recommend this book to anyone 10 years of age and older because it has something that appeals to all those age groups. While __The Wednesday Wars__ isn’t my favorite book I have ever read, It was a very enjoyable book. That is why I gave the book __The Wednesday Wars__ a four star rating out of five stars. ======

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__ The Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler __ is one of my favorite books. It is about two siblings who are in 3rd and 6th grade, named Jamie and Claudia. Claudia had a big idea. Her big idea was that her and her brother Jamie would go to New York City and live at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Claudia and her family live in Greenwich, Connecticut, so they rode the train down to New York City from Greenwich and lived in the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a week! A new statue arrives at the Museum and Claudia is in love with it. The name of the statue is Angel. They uncover the mystery of who created the statue. Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler donated the statue to the museum, and helps Claudia and Jamie solve the mystery of who created Angel. ======

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The first reason __The Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler__ is one of my favorite books is because it is a mystery, not a scary mystery, but a fun mystery. I love those types of books. Another reason this is one of my favorite books is that I think it would be fun to know Claudia and Jamie because they have crazy and fun ideas. For example, they took a bath in the fountain at the museum. The third reason this is one of my favorite books is because it made me wonder what was going to happen in the next chapter and it made me always want to read the book more. ======

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My favorite part of the book was when Jamie heard voices and names that he recognized in the museum and realized his class was there on a field trip. I would recommend this book to anyone between the ages of 8 and 12 who likes fun mysteries. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars because it has everything I would ever want in a book. It has fun characters, a good mystery, silly things, and much more. ======

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This book has something in common with another book I read this summer, __The Wednesday Wars.__ Both books showed how relationships can change for the better. After Claudia and Jamie’s adventure, they become closer. ======