Alexandra

==== Arthur Conan Doyle, Beyond Baker Street, by Janet B. Pascal, is a non-fiction novel. A quote that pulled me into the book was,” Arthur went to the local school run by, “pocket-marked, one-eyed rascal who might have stepped from the pages of Dickens." I liked this quote because I wanted to know why he was saying that, and who he was talking about. ====

==== The book talks about Arthur Conan Doyle’s childhood, his family and friends, and how he grew up. The plot was believable because many of the things that he talked about I could relate to, such as- Big families, siblings, school, and many more. My mind wandered during some parts of the story because I do not read biographies a lot, and because I like fast paced books. ====

==== The story takes place in the 1900’s in England. The setting helps make the story exciting because later on, Arthur Conan Doyle travels to many different places to speak to people. The setting plays an important role to the reader’s understanding of the story because, without knowing where Arthur grew up, you would not understand some parts of the book. ==== ==== I think people in middle school up, or 11 years old and up would enjoy this book because they would understand more parts of the book than a lower grade or age. I would give this book 4 stars because it was a little slow at first, and because I do not read biographies as much as I do with other books. ====



__The House of the Scorpion __ __By: Nancy Farmer __ __Book Review By: Alexandra Poteet __ ﻿ __﻿ __ __ The House of the Scorpion __, by Nancy Farmer, is a science fiction novel. A quote that pulled me into the book was, “In the beginning there were thirty-six of them, thirty-six droplets of life so tiny that Eduardo could see them only under a microscope” (Page 1). That quote pulled me in because it made me wonder who the man Eduardo was and what the droplets were supposed to be.

The book tells a good story about the main character, Matteo (Matt) Alacran, who is a clone that was living in a part cut out of both the United States and Aztlán (formerly Mexico). He was raised by a woman named Celia, one of El Patron’s cooks, for the first six years of his life. I think the plot is believable because many ideas in the story could be something that could happen for real. It was easy to focus on the story because it caught my attention easily. My mind wandered a little while reading because at some parts of the book, it was confusing and I would have to reread the sentence a few times to get what the author was trying to say.

The story takes place in between the United States and Mexico in 2002 (present day). I think the setting makes the story exciting because it is a made up place and because you can use your imagination to think of what it looks like. I think the setting plays an important role in the book for the characters because the author’s description of all of the characters was so thorough that the setting and characters ‘clicked’ together automatically in my mind. The theme in __The House of the Scorpion__ is about putting aside differences, and not judging people by how they look or act, or in this case, where or what they are from. The book taught me how people can be very judgmental about others with things such as how someone dresses, talks, acts around others, etc. I think the author set out what she was trying to say because it made me think about how to not judge a book by its cover and give someone a chance to get to know you- maybe you might find things in common about yourselves.

I think certain characters could connect to a reader and to each other because maybe some readers are like Matt, very smart and clever, or like Celia, very wise and fun. I think Matt, the main character, developed throughout the story because in the beginning of the book he always followed the rules and was not independent, and in the end of the book he is a rule breaker and is very independent. One of the characters, Esperanza, is like me because we are both independent. There were many surprises in the book. For example, one surprise was when Matt smashed the window to get out of the house. Many of the chapters ended with cliffhangers in my opinion because they ended very cleverly. For example, one ending was, “Have I done you a favor? Will you thank me for it later?”(Chapter 1) I think the dialogue is natural and believable for the characters because it goes together very smoothly.

I would recommend this book from fourth grade up because some parts of the book would be confusing for any grades lower than fourth. I would give this book four and a half stars because it had a lot of drama going on in it and because some parts were confusing. Another reason I liked the book is because one quote in the beginning was:”You hold my life in your hands, he told the infant.” This made me think the baby had a lot of power. Nancy Farmer has written two Newberry Honor books. She grew up on the Arizona- Mexico border and lives with her family in Menlo Park, California.

Book Review Alexandra Poteet

In this book review I will discuss a work by Ally Carter, __I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You__. This is a young adult fiction book. Cammie, the lead character in the story is a student at Gallagher Academy, and starts out by telling the reader: “I suppose a lot of teenage girls feel invisible sometimes….But I’m luckier than most because, at my school, that’s considered cool. I go to a school for spies.” (Page 1)

The book tells a good story. It’s easy to think the story is real because you can relate to parts of the story. For me, the things I have in common with the characters are that I am a girl, I am in middle school, and I wear a uniform to school. Once you start reading the book it’s hard to put it down because the characters have such cool adventures. For example, they go on top secret missions and they get to use all kinds of gadgets to spy and help each other out. The funny thing is that the girls’ parents think their daughters are attending a school for geniuses. The story takes place in modern times in the town of Rossville, Virginia. The school for spies is a very protected site with high tech security. They have secret passageways, hidden cameras, and hidden microphones. There are no keys in the school for opening doors. Instead, they use scan recognition technology.

Cammie, the narrator, is a smart and capable girl who is very adept with computers and high tech equipment. Her only problem is that she does not know what to do when she develops a crush on a “ordinary” boy who can never know who she really is. She feels silly and uncomfortable, and basically out of her element because she does not know how to flirt or hang out. Cammie feels very torn and lonely because she cannot tell anyone outside the school about the true school curriculum, so it’s like living a double life. So, Cammie cannot always be a regular teenager and share anecdotes with her friends. Throughout the story Cammie learns to be more comfortable around regular people and is able to hang out with friends outside of school. She begins to come out of her shell and starts to take chances.

This is a really neat story because there are many surprises in it that keep the reader interested, such as thinking about how spy stuff could be used in real life for eavesdropping or hacking. I give this book five stars because it is an entertaining, informative, and fun story. It really makes you want to read the sequel to see what else happens to the girls at the Gallagher Academy!

The author, Ally Carter, is from Oklahoma. Her real name is Sarah Leigh Fogleman. During an interview at a bookstore she said that her inspiration for the story was taking a group of ordinary girls and having extraordinary things happen to them and follow them as they get through all the adventures. She is a very good writer!

Alexandra Poteet In this review I will discuss __The Wednesday Wars__ by Gary D. Schmidt. This is a coming of age Young Adult story. The narrator is Holling Hoodhood, a boy in 7th grade during 1967. Every Wednesday, the Jewish or Catholic students went to religion classes, but since Holling was Presbyterian he had to stay and do extra work with Mrs. Baker. When Holling got home the 1st day of school, he said to his parents: “Mrs. Baker hates my guts!” The book tells a good story. I felt like it was all true because the book was very believable. The story takes place in Long Island, New York during 1967. The New York Yankees and Yankee stadium are important in the book because the author used them to help show the meaning of friendship. For example, when Holling went to Yankee Stadium to get an autograph from Mickey Mantle, his friend, Danny, stood up for him when Mickey would not sign Hollings’ baseball. With this book I learned about the importance of family and friends. Even when bad things happened, the family members helped and loved each other. Even though the teacher, Mrs. Baker, was strict, she helped Holling build confidence in himself. She also gave him useful tips on how to improve his running. In addition, she introduced Holling to Shakespeare. Reading Shakespeare plays made it easy for Holling to come out of his shell because he took chances, such as being in the community play. I could relate to the characters because like me, they were in Middle school and felt more adult-like. Although some parts in the book were slow, there were many funny parts that kept me interested. I felt like everything in the book could come to life and happen. I would give this book 4 ½ stars because I could relate to many parts of the story. It also made me want to learn more about Shakespeare and read some of his plays. I think people of all ages would enjoy this book.

Alexandra Poteet

In this review, I will discuss __Thursday’s Child__ by Sonya Hartnett. This is a children’s fiction book about childhood memories. This book caught my attention when I read, “He’s only a kid Harper. How’s he going to dig himself out?”, because it sounded like someone was in danger and I wanted to find out who it was. The book was about a very poor family. The story felt like some parts of the story were believable while others did not. It was a little bit hard to concentrate because the book was very sad, so my mind wandered sometimes while reading. The story takes place in the countryside in the United States, during the Great Depression. The land was dry, so it could not be used to harvest food. The family’s house was also very far away from the town, so they would have to walk many miles to get there. During the Great Depression, there wasn’t much money or food, and it was very hard to find a paying job. The book taught me about how hard times were during the Great Depression, and how scarce food, crops, and shelter were. I think the author tried to emphasize a lot about the family’s poverty and how they struggled to make ends meet. The narrator, Harper, is a young girl who tries to act more mature than her age by helping with siblings and doing chores. Her family did not have a lot of money, so they could not get everything that they needed. She also could not get everything she wanted such as clothes and toys. Harper developed in the story because at first, she was very talkative, playful, and nice to be around, but after all of the tragedies that happened to her family, she had to grow up very fast, which made her lose the child in herself. Harper also felt guilt because she was supposed to look after Caffy, her three year old brother, but she was careless and he fell into a hole in their yard and died. In Thursday’s Child, there was not a lot of hope for the characters, and they did not really think of the future -mostly just the present. I think that parts of the book were a bit predictable because of all the tragedies and sadness going on. Also, because of how they spoke, it was hard to understand since it was in English dialect. I also think that the book was hard to follow because the narrator sounded like she skipped some parts of her memories, and left out some of the details. I give this book two stars because it was a very sad story. When the narrator, Harper, wanted to ask her mom… “Why raise me, feed me, keep me, if my life was going to be lived in a cage?” to me it sounded like she had no hope about their future. So, I felt sorry for her. I would recommend this book to people who like sad stories or who want to learn more about what life was like during the Great Depression.