Reilly

 __**Michelle Obama: An American Story**__

**B** **y: David Colbert:**  **Book Review By: Reilly** **Palevich** This biography is called __Michelle Obama: An American Story__  by David Colbert. Most people know Michelle Obama as the current first lady of America, but she is more than that. Michelle is a very intelligent woman **,** a lawyer, a daughter, a sister, a wife, a mother, and a billion other good things. Michelle has been such a role model in her whole life, especially as the First Lady. She is an absolutely, fabulous person.

Michelle LaVaughn Robinson was born on January 17th, 1964 in Chicago, Illinois. Her parents are Fraser and Marian Robinson. She also has an older brother named Craig Robinson. Michelle grew up in Chicago before adulthood. When Michelle was ten, she and her family drove to South Carolina to visit her grandparents. She soon traces her roots, and found out a few ancestors have been slaves in the area. Michelle felt sad to hear that. Time had passed ,and Michelle starting attending Whitney M. Young, an all girls school, in Chicago. At her high school, there were portable classrooms called “Willis Wagons”, which were attempting to double the schools students. Michelle was an honor student and always had straight A’s. Michelle was accepted to Princeton University, but she won’t be excited for long.

As Michelle arrived to Princeton, everyone wasn’t excited to see her. It was because she was black and everyone else was white. Michelle went to her dorm and met one of her roommates, Cathrine, who was from New Orleans. Cathrine was one of the whites who didn’t mind Michelle. They became good friends. Cathrine was talking to her mom about Michelle, and her mom was furious! She wanted Cathrine removed from Princeton because of Michelle’s race. Michelle overcame the sadness of teasing. She received a B.A. in sociology. Michelle went to Harvard Law School, where she met Barack Obama. They started dating and gradually became engaged. Michelle was excited, but one year before the wedding, her dad, Fraser, died. She was very sad about that. In 1992, Michelle and Barack Obama were married. They have two children, Malia in 1998, and Natasha(Sasha) in 2001. Obama was Illinois senate in 1997-2004, the U.S. senate in 2005-2008, and the current president. Michelle has created a positive affect in the United States by encouraging people to stay fit and eat healthy.

I would give __Michelle Obama: An American Story__  3.5 stars out of 5. I gave this 3.5 stars because I thought this biography was talking more about her family than talking about Michelle. I wouldn't recommend this biography for anyone who needs information just about her. I think a better choice would be Julz’s book, __Michelle Obama: Meet the First Lady__ <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> by: David Bergen Brophy. <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">__The Hunger Games__ <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; white-space: pre-wrap;">By: Suzanne Collins Book Review By: Reilly Palevich

<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; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Winning means fame and fortune, losing means certain death, the Hunger Games have begun.” This novel is called <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">__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; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and it’s by Suzanne Collins. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">__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; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is the first novel in the trilogy. It includes <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">__Catching Fire__ <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; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">__Mockingjay__ <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; white-space: pre-wrap;">. The genre of this novel is science fiction. The theme is of <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">__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; white-space: pre-wrap;"> survival, dystopia, and society. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">__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; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is about a girl named Katniss Everdeen from District 12 of Panem, who must fight in the deadly Hunger Games, and must kill everyone to win. She must face survival in the arena, evil teens from the other districts, and alliences.

Katniss Everdeen is a sixteen year old girl who will have her life turns around. Katniss is sixteen years old, and has black hair with grey eyes. As Effie Trinket pulls out the girl from District 12, Katniss is in shock. Her sister, Primrose “Prim” Everdeen, is chosen. Katniss decides to step in for Prim and take her spot. The boy from District 12 is Peeta Mellark, who secretly likes Katniss. In the actual Hunger Games, Katniss made two good alliances, Rue from District 11 and Peeta towards the end. Only alliances will work together. My least favorite character is Haymitch, the sponsor for Katniss and Peeta. He is always drunk, so you can’t function around him. In this story, it’s taken place in Panem, a dystopian society. It mostly takes place at the capital a Panem. The capital is so cool. It’s all futuristic at the capital building. They have buttons for the kind of soap you want. I thought that was really cool.

<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; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why is the Hunger Games called the Hunger Games? It’s called Hunger Games because this is a battle of twenty-four kids from the ages twelve to eighteen, killing each other for, their district, a year supply of food and everyone gets a house. If you’re in the games, you have a 0.4 chance of surviving. That’s really sad that your life in endangered. In <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">__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; white-space: pre-wrap;">, it can really be hard to concentrate because your mind wonders off a lot. The questions that pop in your head are, Is this person dead? How did she find him? Wait, what? Those show that there are a lot of cliffhangers in this story.

<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; white-space: pre-wrap;">I loved <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">__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; white-space: pre-wrap;">! I feel it’s definitely a five star book because it was just spectacular! I enjoyed that Katniss was the narrator, and that has a lot of things going on. I enjoy books that make you think. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">__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; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is recommended for everyone! I’m happy that this story is going to a movie because only excellent novels usually become movie. That shows how awesome <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">__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; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is. I am so excited to start reading <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">__Catching Fire__ <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; white-space: pre-wrap;">.

Reilly Palevich <span style="display: block; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"> When You Reach Me <span style="display: block; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"> By: Rebecca Stead <span style="display: block; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"> This book is called __When You Reach Me__ by Rebecca Stead. The story’s theme is friendship and the genre is mystery. To make you feel more interested about the story, I would like to share a quote. <span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"> “You saved Sal’s life. You were the laughing man. You are dead. <span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"> You were the laughing man. You were Marcus. Marcus is the laughing man. Or he will be when he’s old. <span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"> “None of this makes sense!” my brain yelled. <span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"> “But all of it is true,” I answered.” <span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"> __When You Reach Me__ takes place in New York City during early fall 1978 to May 1979. New York City makes the story exciting because that’s where Miranda lives. How exciting would it be to live in New York City? Also, Miranda's mom plays the game show, $20,000 Pyramid in New York City. Throughout the story, most of the characters stay the same. One character that definitely developed through the story was Marcus. Marcus punched Sal when Miranda and Sal were walking home from school. Miranda didn’t see Marcus for a couple months, until they met at school. Marcus completely changed his personality to be a really nice, smart kid. Miranda is the main character of the book. She also narrates the story. She lives in with her mom and her mom’s boyfriend, Richard in an apartment. Miranda’s personality is a quiet nice girl. She is twelve years old, and her favorite book is __A Wrinkle in Time__ by Madeleine L’Engle. Miranda is the recipient of the notes that are being sent by a mysterious person. <span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"> The problem is that Miranda is receiving all of these strange notes by an unknown person. After the notes keep getting sent to Miranda, she realizes that the notes mean that there will be a tragic death that only the writer knows about. Miranda might be the only person to save this person’s life. As I finished this book, it taught me that if you’re in a situation, and you’re the only one to prevent it, you can do it. Most of the chapters didn't end with cliffhangers. The ones that did were the chapters when Miranda got the notes and found the clues that the notes told her to look for. In __When You Reach Me__ there were so many twists and turns in the story that I didn’t predict. Since it is a mystery book, you really want to figure out who’s sending the notes, so that keeps you interested. I’d like to recommend __When You Reach Me__ to people who like a good quick read book. I think this book is good for age nine and up because there is some mild violence and a little bit of cursing. I really liked the book because it was an exciting story about this girl’s life in New York City. It was so good that I think it should be a movie because while you’re reading the book, you picture the people and places in real life. I would give __When You Reach Me__ five stars because the story was just amazing to read.

The City of Ember

By: Jeanne DuPrau

Book Review By: Reilly Palevich

“There is so much darkness in Ember, Lina. It's not just outside, it's inside too. Everyone has some darkness inside. It's like a hungry creature. It wants and wants and wants with a terrible power. And the more you give it, the bigger and hungrier it gets.” This novel is called __The City of Ember__ by Jeanne DuPrau. The theme is a mix of suspense and desire. The genre is a mix of mystery and fantasy. The setting is (you probably guessed it already) Ember. Ember is a dark and cold city. There is not a lot of light in Ember. It's actually an underground city. Since Ember is underground, they don't have a lot of food. In my opinion, Ember does make the story exciting because you never know what's going to happen. The main character in the story is Lina Mayfleet. Lina has a little sister, Poppy, who is about two years old. She has a grandmother too who she calls, Granny. Her parent's are both dead. Her dad died because of coughing sickness. Her mom died while she was giving birth to Poppy. Lina is 12 years old, and her job is a messenger. In Ember, when your 13, you choose a job from a hat. Lina was originally going to work at Pipeworks but her friend, Doon, wanted to trade. Lina has a couple friends. Her best friend is Doon Harrow. He has a mysterious kind of personality. She has two other good friends, Lizzie Bisco, a school friend who doesn't stop talking, and Clary, a good family friend. Unfortunately, Granny dies in the story because she got really sick. So, Lina and Poppy live with Mrs. Murdo, who's a very nice lady to Lina and Poppy. Granny tears up the house because she's trying to find “it”. She is looking through the closet when Lina gets home. Lina asks her what she's finding and all she said is, “something important”. Lina sees Poppy chewing on a piece of paper, and Lina takes it away. She looks at it, and she thinks, “Is this what Granny is looking for?” Lina is positive it's a way to get out of Ember! The title of the paper said, “Instru r Egres”. Lina is mad at Poppy for chewing it. The problem in the story is Lina draws pictures of The Other City. The Other City is the complete opposite of Ember. She wants to get out of Ember. As I explained the scene above, Lina finds the paper which she thinks it's a way out of Ember. She tries to figure out the instructions to the paper, and her friends Doon, Lizzie, and Clary help figure them out. Then, Doon, Lina, and Poppy try to do the instructions to get out of Ember. Throughout the story, they're are so many other problems. Like, Lina loses Poppy during a power failure while Lina and Poppy were delivering messages. The mayor of Ember, Mayor Cole, is believed by Lina and Doon, that he's stealing the food the supply store. They're are a lot more. I loved __The City of Ember__! It was so fascinating. I think this book is good for 4th grade and up because there's a lot of stuff going on in the book and it's about 300 pages. If you have trouble reading bigger books, I would recommend you reading the novel on Kindle because it will let you choose how much on a page. People who like any kind of book will enjoy __The City of Ember__ because it's a mix of everything. WARNING! The first couple chapters are boring, but you have to read them because if you didn't you wouldn't know who everyone is.

Reilly Palevich The Wednesday Wars

By: Gary D. Schmidt

This book is called <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"> __ The Wednesday Wars __. It’s by Gary D. Schmidt. The genre is realistic fiction and the theme is humor. In the story there were a lot of funny quotes, but this is my favorite quote.

“ Mickey Mantle looked me up and down. “Sure he is. Listen, I don’t sign baseballs for kids in yellow tights.”

Holling Hoodhood. Me. The boy in yellow tights with white feathers on the butt and a blue floral cape.”

The main character in this story is Holling Hoodhood. He lives with his dad, mom, and sister, Heather. His best friends are Meryl Lee, Danny, and Doug. His favorite sports team is the Yankees. Holling’s personality is nice kid who’s not afraid to try something. After his teacher, Mrs. Baker assigned him Shakespeare plays to reenact, he really liked Shakespeare. Also, you should never ask Holling to clean a small animal’s cage because he’ll lose the pet(like he did with Mrs. Baker’s rats at school). I didn’t really relate to the characters because I don’t no what it’s like to be in a time with a really big war going on, being in middle school, or reading Shakespeare plays. On the other hand, the characters related to each other because they’re having a lot of the same problems. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"> __ The Wednesday Wars __ takes place in Long Island, New York from early September 1967 to late June 1968. The setting makes the story exciting because in Long Island, a guy named Mr. Goldman does a Long Island Shakespeare Festival and Holling is in a lot of the plays this year.

Holling Hoodhood is starting middle school, and he’s really excited. The only problem is he is the only Presbyterian in his class. Why is it a problem? On Wednesdays, everyone in Holling’s class leaves early to go to Hebrew or Catechism School. So, he’s stuck with his teacher, Mrs. Baker, who makes him do chores and read Shakespeare. Does Holling learn to enjoy Mrs. Baker? The moral of the story is it’s one hundred percent okay to be different. The chapters in the book sometimes end with cliffhangers when a really big event happens during the story. The dialogue is not always natural and believable to the characters like when Mrs. Baker tells the class that someone that’s really famous is coming.

I think people who like a really funny book will definitely love <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"> __ The Wednesday Wars __. This story is best for nine years and up because it’s a little hard for younger kids to read it. Also, it’s kind of hard for younger kids to understand what’s going on in the story. I really liked __ The Wednesday Wars __ because it was a really funny story about middle school for this kid. I would like to give __ The Wednesday Wars __ five stars because it was just an outstanding, award winning book.