Ranger's Apprentice - The Siege of Macindaw

Castle Macindaw is in danger. Keren has successfully taken the castle and is planning to attack Auldren with the Scotti. Luckily, Will has a group of Skandians, his previous enemies, to help him stop the Scotti general from contacting the others. Once Will recieved the information he needed from the general, he let him go and started to make plans to overtake Macindaw. After planning, Will launched an attack and tried to find his friend, Alyss. Many people died, but in the end the they won. Will, Alyss, and some of the Skandians survived. After their goodbyes they went their separate ways.

I recommend this book to people who like action and adventure. The book is about 296 pages long. It is one of my favorite books.

By Cody, 6th Grade Reader

The Angel Experiment by James Patterson

In James Patterson’s The Angel Experiment, there is a lot of excitement. There are six main characters named: Max, age 14, Iggy, age 14, Nudge, age 11, Fang, age 14, Angel, age 6, The Gasman, or Gazzy for short, age 8,. They call themselves, the Flock. They are all very different in many ways, but they all have one thing in common - each and every one of them has wings. They were born and shortly taken to a lab to be tested and experimented on. All of the scientists treat them very harshly, and they never escape until, Jeb, one of the evil scientists, helped them escape and leaves them on their own, in a house on a hill, near a forest, as a test of their abilities. All of them develop different superpowers throughout the series.

In the beginning of The Angel Experiment, Angel gets taken by an evil breed of animals called, Erasers. They are human, but have the blood of a wolf in them, and can morph into a wolf at any time. The Erasers, led by Ari, Jeb’s son, take Angel back to the lab, where she is put through more tests, such as, seeing how fast she can go through a maze. Meanwhile, the Flock is organizing a plan to get Angel back. They end up deciding to leave Iggy behind, because he is blind, and Gazzy, because he isn't exactly the fastest. On their way to the School, Max sees a girl getting bullied by some boys with guns, so she decides to go help her. Every member of the Flock has superhuman strength and is very tall, so Max ends up defeating the bullies. While she is running away, Max gets clipped by a bullet on her wing, so she can’t fly away. A few hours later, she finds a small house where Ella, the girl that was getting bullied, lives. They end up taking her in for a few days, and are very surprised when they find out that Max has wings. Dr. Martinez, Ella’s mom, takes Max to the veterinary office that she works in, after she finds out that Max has a bullet wound, to get her x-rayed. She then notices a small chip in Max’s arm. Meanwhile, Iggy and Fang are staying in a cave with hawks, worried out of their minds. Since that was their official meeting place, when Max is healed, she finds them. While all of that  has been happening, Iggy and Gazzy are trying to evade the erasers and destroy some of them with bombs. They end up surviving, but some of the erasers do also. Iggy and Gazzy go to the cave and find Max, Nudge, and Fang. They leave to the school and some of the hawks followed. When they get to the school, they save Angel the hawks attack some scientists. They meet back up at the cave and start flying east, when Max has a piercing headache that makes her wings stop working. Fang saves her and they land in the forest below. They start cooking various things on sticks over a fire that they make, when Angel tells Max that she overheard some scientist’s thoughts (Angel can read minds) about this place called the Institute of something. She couldn’t remember what the full name was. Anyways, they were thinking about the Institute and how it held their parent’s names and addresses. They were also thinking about how that certain institute was in New York. They head to New York, where they start looking for it. They find no traces of it, and are sleeping in the subway when Max has another headache, which interferes with a computer, and all the images in Max’s head go on to every computer nearby. The owner of a nearby computer gets mad at Max for interfering with his computer and Max explains what is happening, but he stays mad. Max has a voice in her head that gives her advice, and that voice hints where the Institute of Higher Living is. It is underground in the sewers. It turns out that it has other mutants held in cages, and all of the files for every mutant ever, except for Max. They unlock all of the cages, and the other mutants are free. On their way out, they run into some Erasers. Ari is leading them, and Max kills Ari, causing pandemonium throughout the ranks of Erasers, and escapes above to the streets of New York City.

I think this book was very interesting and exciting. It is amazing that they all end the book alive. There is so much suspense and thrill in The Angel Experiment that I hardly ever put it down. I would recommend this book to anyone, especially previous James Patterson fans and fans of The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins. If you like this book, there are seven more books in the series, and you can enjoy the rest too.

By Timothy, 6th Grade Reader

The Wizard of Oz

The Wizard of Oz

The Wizard of Oz is a book about a girl named Dorothy, who was in cyclone, or tornado. Dorothy and her dog, Toto, landed in a strange country, and her house landed on an evil witch. She grabbed the witch’s shoes, not knowing their power. Then, she went with her dog, and set out to meet Oz, the Great and Powerful. While they were heading there, she met a scarecrow who wanted to be smart, a tinman who wanted a heart, and a cowardly lion who wanted courage. When they got there, Oz said that they had to kill the other witch first. Oz, the Great and Powerful, turned out to be a humbug, or trickster. Then, the good witch helped them. Dorothy got back to her family, the scarecrow was the new ruler of Emerald City, the lion was the king of the forest in another city, and the tinman fell in love again, with the same girl he was first in love with when he was made out of flesh.

I thought the Wizard of Oz was a good book. It is different from the movie, though. I liked the scarecrow, because he was brave. It seems like Emerald City sounds like a really cool place, and I would like to go to it someday if it were real. I would recommend this book to people who like classics. That’s why I thought this was a good book.

Summary and review by Lia

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

A boy named Hugo tried to steal a blue windup toy mouse from a toy booth but the old man caught him and took Hugo’s notebook and let Hugo go. As the old man was heading home Hugo was following the old man to his house. As the old man closed the door Hugo picked up a stone and tried to hit the old mans window but accidentally hit the wrong window. The curtains opened and there was a girl looking out the window. But Hugo recognized the girl from the toy booth. When he got back to his house in the walls of a train subway in New York , and sat down and uncovered a mechanical man His father used to work on the robot until he died in a fire. Hugo had always thought that if he fixed the robot , the robot  would write a message from his father. The next morning , Hugo went back to the toy booth. The old man told Hugo if he wanted his notebook back Hugo would have to do daily jobs at the3 booth. While Hugo worked , Hugo stole nuts , screws and bolts so he could be able to fix the robot. One day while Hugo was working at the toy booth , Hugo saw the girl from the window the previous night. She told Hugo to meet her at the library after his work. When Hugo got to the library he saw the girl. While  they were talking the door had opened and the girl seemed to know the person and then the girl introduced Etienne. Etienne said hi Isabelle then Hugo knew what the girls name was. It was Isabelle. When Hugo fixed the robot , he noticed on the back of the mechanical mans back there was a heart shaped key hole. Hugo waited until he saw Isabelle again so he can get the necklace from her so he can see what the mechanical is going to write. Once Hugo got the necklace without Isabelle knowing. While Hugo was slowly putting the necklace key into the keyhole. Suddenly Isabelle came running into his room and Hugo accidentally dropped the key and Isabelle jumped on Hugo and Hugo struggled to get out of her grip. Hugo told Isabelle all about the robot and how long he has been working on it and he can't wait to see the message. Isabelle let him out of his grip and tried turning the key but Hugo told her that there is no ink. So Hugo put some ink into the bottle and then she turned the key and the all of the gears were turning and the hand of the man dipped the pen into the ink and then started putting lines on the paper. Hugo thought that something had gone wrong and then he heard her gasp and ran over to see what she saw. It wasn’t a message. It was a drawing of a moon with a telescope as an eye. They thought that it was done but it dipped the pen back into the ink and the wrote Georges Melies. Then Isabelle said that is her godfather. Isabelle led Hugo to her apartment and let Hugo come in. While they were sitting down , the top of the armoire was open so the girl stood up on a chair and there was a chest and she grabbed the chest and when she had the chest the two front legs of the chair broke and the chest flew out of the arms of the girl and the chest shattered into little pieces and laying on the floor was little drawings. They were all drawn from Georges Melies. Both of them were surprised to see all of the drawings. Papa Georges came in and started whispering no no no no no. He took the projector and went into his room and locked it. Hugo , Isabelle , Etienne , and Monsieur Tabard were hearing a lot of ruckus in the room. Then Hugo told Isabelle to pick the lock and open the door and she did. When Isabelle opened the door they expected a huge mess but all there was was a bed pushed to the side and a desk George was sitting at but looking like a larger version of the mechanical man. Then Hugo went back to his home and unwrapped the mechanical man and carried it back to Isabelles apartment. He took the mechanical man back to the house and then dropped it off and left to the Film Academy library. When he got to the film academy the girl behind the desk said no no you are not coming in. You are too dirty and too small. And you have to be accompanied by an adult. Suddenly Etienne appeared and led Hugo to the film and book room. Hugo saw a picture of a type of god holding a fire ball and shooting light out of his finger. Hugo found the book he was looking for and then told Etienne thank you and left. Once he got to his house , he accidently bumped into the station inspector and got caught. When he woke up , Hugo saw the universe. Then Hugo noticed it was the jacket of Papa Georges. But when he sat up he was in the station inspectors room. Papa Georges told the station inspector that Hugo will live with him and Hugo didn’t have to go to the orphanage. Then the station inspector let them go.

I think this book was amazing. Definitely the best book I have ever read in my entire life. It had a lot of detail.  I love the way it had pictures and words to give me a general idea and  better picture what is going on in the story. The pictures helped me remember the book more than the words. The book was so good that when you try to put the book  you will fall down with it but still be reading it.

  Angelo                 6th grade                  11 years old                       Ms. Bruscas class   

Babe Ruth and Me by Dan Gutman

The book I read was titled Babe Ruth and Me by Dan Guttman.  This book starts off at a kid's baseball game . Then a few days after the game his dad comes over and needs money so he asks if he can have his Babe Ruth card back .  They go on a journey back in time. The dad takes all his savings and they go back. The son wants to see Babe Ruth's famous called shot.  When they go back in time they buy 75 baseballs. Babe Ruth signs them and they go to NY to put a bet on the baseball World Series and they think he's a bookie They go to game four in Chicago with Babe Ruth. They had to go see a sick child that was dying. When they got there Babe Ruth told the kid he would hit a home run for him.  They go back to Chicago. Babe Ruth called his shot. He hit a home run into center field. That is the story that I read.  I suggest this book to Isahia  beacuse he likes baseball.

By Gabe, 6th Grade Reader

Love From Your Friend Hannah

The book I read is called Love From Your Friend, Hannah. Hannah is an 11 year old girl and her best friend is Aggie, but her dog Skippy is really close to second place. She also lives on Route 9W in Grand View, New York. One day Aggie had to move because her father got a job in New Hampshire, but Hannah told Aggie that she would be her pen pal. Hannah was getting mad at Aggie because  she would not write back. So one day at school one of her teacher's desk was a pen pal box and she picked one out and it was a boy named Edward Winchley. Hannah wrote to him a long letter and all he wrote to her was two short sentences. Hannah was mad and she told her dad and he said write to President Roosevelt. She wrote to him about Aggie and Edward. President Roosevelt and he said he was sorry that Aggie did not answer her and also said Edward can’t be that bad. So Hannah wrote to him again and it said she got in trouble because she went to a bar and her mom said young ladies do not go to bars. Then Hannah told her mom and dad because she can’t tell a lie. Hannah wrote to Edward and it said I am in  very big trouble. Edward wrote to Hannah and it said I am in the classroom writing double negative because I used them in my writing. So then Hannah wrote to President Roosevelt and it said I guess you were right about Edward. Edward wrote to Hannah and he told her his cow Mattila was having a baby and the baby name was Hannah jr. Then President Roosevelt wrote to Hannah and he meet a girl that came to the White House to make a clock and she wants to have a pen pal so what do you say Hannah. Than Hannah wrote to him and she told him she has a friend and his name is Edward

I really like this book because of how events go. I would recommend this book to Alexis. Why I would recommend this book to her is because she likes to write letters and read them.

By Hailey, 6th Grade Reader

The Gods and Goddesses of Olympus By Aliki

Gaea and Uranus had very many children.  So when they had more children Uranus thought they were ugly,so he killed them. Gaea gave the throne to Cronus,and got married to sister Rhea . He didn’t  want anyone to  steal  the   throne ,so he ate his children except  for one,and she ran with him,so he wouldn’t eat him .  He was raised by a woodland nymphs . Zeus grew up to be the strongest of gods. He got married to Metis. Rhea was  still with her husband. She wanted Zeus to depose him ,but Metis was a   wise woman. She said that Zeus needed for  Cronus to have the Titans on his side.  Instead he threw up his children. They had reunited. They got ready to fight the titans. The fight olds gods and new gods. They had defeated the titans. Gaea was at peace. They divided  the world into three: the heaven god, god of the sea and god of under god                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

I think it was a good  book. It gives you a good story ,and information about some gods and goddesses. I would give this book to research readers  about gods and goddesses.

By Joy'e, 6th Grade Reader

Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary

Beezus and Ramona are two sisters that have a weird life with each other. Ramona is younger than Beezus, and Ramona is only four and her sister is nine. Beezus hates reading The Littlest Steam Shovel, because she has to make these steam shovel noises while reading the book to Ramona, (which she feels silly about) but Ramona loves that book. Ramona was riding her tricycle around the house, and then she crashed into a coffee table and knocked it over. Beezus  was tired of Ramona playing around in the house like that, so she told Ramona that she would read The Littlest Steam Shovel  if she stopped riding her tricycle around the house. When Beezus finished the book Ramona jumped back on her tricycle rode around the house again. ‘’ “LIAR!” Beezus yelled at Ramona, Beezus felt annoyed at Ramona, because how she is brat she is. Then she thought it was good idea to take Ramona to the library so she can get new book. While they were walking to the library the ran in to a lady, it was Mrs. Wisser and her friend. The first thing that Ramona asked is, “What to see my scab?” Then she raised her knee to show them. Beezus put Ramona's leg back down, because she was embarrassed, But I'm going to leave it to you finish because of spoilers. OK...maybe I'll talk about it more, so when they got there Ramona chose a book, and you'll never guess what book she chose. Ramona got..... wait for it ..... The Biggest Steam Shovel. Oh Ramona you're so predictable. Then when Beezus was checking out the book Ramona saw the library card. She said that she wanted one too, so she could check out books like her big sister, so she asked for one, but Beezus said that she needs to know how to write her name.  The librarian thought that she could so she handed a card to her to try, but she just wrote down a bunch of “i” and “t”. Then, when they got home, Beezus just read the book to Ramona, because she is awfully nice that way.

 This book is very funny, because the big sister and the little sister act like how a lot of people love and I’m one of them. This type of books can get boring, but not too fast, it's just that there are so many books like this, and these book are the most popular books out there, but they can get boring. You don’t have to listen to me, and if you have a different thought then me it’s okay, we're all different.  I recommend this book to people who really like books like, oh, I don’t know.... Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

By Adrian, 6th Grade Reader

Missing May by Cynthia Rylant

Summer is 10 years old girl and her mom died when she was 4. Ob and May are part of her family. They heard that the mom had died ,so then they came  to get a child. May  told Ob that when she saw Summer she had to take her home. They drove home and Summer looked at an SUV and thought this is going to be my home for life. When Summer looked closer she saw a garden with swirly birds in it. Summer asked May where did you get the swirly birds and May told her Ob made them.

                 One day May went to go to her garden ,but she didn’t come back. Ob went to go see where she was ,but he could not find her. When Ob came back he told her May will come back by tonight. The next morning Summer came to Ob’s room and she only saw Ob. Ob called a girl to see where may was. When she came she asked Ob a lot of questions.  After that she told Ob May had died.

                       Than one of Ob’s old friends came. He told Ob to go to his church it will make you feel a lot better. Ob asked Summer if she wanted to go and she told him only if you feel better. So they both felt a lot better when they came home. When they came home Ob asked  Summer if we can take care for each other.

Review      I thought this book could be real. To me it felt real because a person can die and people are there to help you. I would recommend this book to Lesley because it looks like she likes fiction books.

By Hailey, 6th Grade Reader

Haunted Kids

Haunted Kids is about true stories with kids having some problems with ghosts. It has a story that’s about a boy who knocked over a gravestone in a cemetery. The gravestone had his name on it and he couldn’t stand it. There’s another story with a girl having a slumber party and uses a Ouija board. An Ouija board is known to be able to communicate beyond the grave. Later the girl hears pounding and the board said there was a spirit in the room named zebyn.

                                   

I think Haunted Kids was  a good book. There's even a story with a ghost that saves a child’s life, so this book is not scary for the people who get scared easily. I really enjoyed this book. I would recommend this book to people who like mystery books. That's why I think it was a good book.

By Lia, 6th Grade Reader

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

The book MockingJay is the final book of The Hunger Games. Since Katniss Everdeen's district was destroyed she has to go to district 13. She will have to get used to everything. All her friends want to protect her through the war with the capitol. She wants to help them but they are afraid she will get killed. She ends up going with them accepting that she may get killed. Through all of this she has to watch some of her closest friends die. Although they were her closest friends she has to keep pushing herself forward to destroy President Snow. The reason Katniss Everdeen wants to kill President Snow is because he hurt her prep team,hijacked Peeta’s mind,and killed some of her friends. In the end a lot of people died and Katniss returned to district 12. This is what the book MockingJay was about.

            I thought this was an inspiring,sad,and happy book.I thought this because it was inspiring when she never gave up and kept going. Then it was sad when some of my favorite characters died. Last it was happy at the end because she went back to district 12 and hopefully pushed away all the horrible memories.This is what I thought of the book MockingJay.

By Sienna, 6th Grade Reader

Ribsy by Beverly Cleary

In the book Ribsy, a dog goes on a wild adventure with tons of different people.

Ribsy lives with his owner, Henry Huggins, and the rest of their family. Henry loves his dog very much. One day, the Huggins’ got a new station waggon. They had to go to the Farmers Market to buy some groceries. When they left, Ribsy wanted to go along, but Mr. Huggins said no, because it’s a brand new car, and he doesn’t want the seats getting dirty from a messy dogs paw. As the family left for the market, Ribsy wasn’t happy. He started chasing the car down the street. Henry rolled down his window and yelled at Ribsy to go home, but he didn’t obey. He kept running as the Station Waggon rolled down the quiet street. Finally, Mrs. Huggins, a very kind hearted woman, said to Mr. Huggins to stop the car and let Ribsy in. So once he stopped the car, Henry popped open his door, and in came Ribsy. Mr. Huggins made sure to add a catch. “Put him on the floor!”. Ribsy hopped on to the floor, curled around his tail, and went to sleep.

    When he woke up, the family was getting out of the car to go into the grocery store. Henry told his father to roll down the back window just a crack so Ribsy would be able to have some fresh air. Ribsy started to get excited. He was alone, and the window was partly open, and he wanted to go out and run. Ribsy spotted a puny little Chihuahua coming down the parking lot with it’s owner. Now Ribsy was excited. He started barking, and propped his front paws up on the window. The little Chihuahua started barking back. Ribsy was amused. He moved his feet to the bottom of the window, and accidently hit the window button. The window went down, and Ribsy was very excited. He jumped out of the window, and looked around for the Chihuahua, but it was no where to be found. Once he knew it was gone, Ribsy decided to look around for Henry. He walked around the parking lot about 5 times, when he started to get worried. As he dashed through the rows of cars, he got more and more worried. He passed all different kinds of cars, but they all looked the same to Ribsy. Finally he saw one that looked just right. It had all the windows down, so Ribsy hopped in, curled on the floor, and went to sleep happy he was not lost anymore.

     Ribsy awoke to a bunch of hands all over him, and strange looking people hovering over him. Ribsy was confused. He wasn’t in the right car. All these strange people were asking questions and petting him. “Daddy, can we keep him?” said one of the younger girls. “We’ll take him home until we can get an ad in the paper.” Said the father, seeming annoyed. Ribsy was so tired from running, he jumped up on the seats, even though he knew he shouldn’t, and went to sleep again.

The girls started pulling him out of the car, so Ribsy just randomly started sprinting. He didn’t know where he was going, or what he was going to do, but he ran. He could faintly hear screams telling him to come back, but he didn’t stop. He ran and ran until he noticed he was finally alone. He stopped and took a few breathes. Then he found a water puddle, so he started drinking out of it. When he was finally breathing normally, and full of water, he started walking down the street, very puzzled, just wanting to go home.

  As he was walking down the street, there was a boy in front of his apartment playing with a ball. Ribsy stopped, stared, and started towards the boy. The boy looked confused, and wanted to know what Ribsy needed. Then, the boy dropped the ball by accident, and Ribsy ran and picked it up by his mouth. He started to run, and the boy chased him. Finally he got the ball and threw it far away. Ribsy ran yo get it, and brought it back to him. That’s when he started to get the picture. He threw it again, and again, and again. Later, the boy asked Ribsy if he wanted some food. Ribsy barked happily, so the boy took Ribsy inside. In the building the boy lives in, their manager is super mean, so he has to hide Ribsy or else the manager will see him, and possibly kick their family out of the apartment. As they were walking inside, out pops the manager. Quickly the boy picks up Ribsy, opens a window and sets him out on the fire escape. After a few hours of sitting boringly, Ribsy hears a car coming. it was a miracle! It’s Henry Huggins! Ribsy starts barking extremely loudly and joyfully, causing Henry to look up. “Ribsy!” cried Henry. Henry hopped out of the car and asked the Smog employees across the street if he could borrow a ladder. Henry and his father got Ribsy down safely, and they went home all very happy.

     I really enjoyed this story because it kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time I was reading it. This book is jam packed with adventure and excitement. You’ll love it the whole way through. I know I did! There is all different kinds of stories all put into one. Everytime Ribsy is almost about to find his way home, something bad happens. I know you’ll enjoy this book just as much as I did. Make sure you don’t miss anything, or even skip a page, cause if you do, I’ll bet you you missed a lot!

 

By Kiani, 6th Grade Reader

     

Ellen Tebbitts by Beverly Cleary

The book I read was Ellen Tebbits. The main characters are Ellen, Austine, and the teacher Miss.Joyce. This book was about Ellen who didn’t have any friends. That was because Ellen blocked herself from finding friends. Ellen had very good manners. One day Ellen made a friend named Austine, they were best friends so much that they both decided to wear the same dress to school. Ellen's dress was different from Austine, because Ellen's dress had a sash on it but Austine didn’t. When they both got to school someone pulled Ellens sash off her dress, Ellen turned around and BAM, she had slapped Austine in the face. Later on that day Austine wasn’t her friend anymore. A week later Miss.Joyce chose Ellen to do a special job during class which was clapping half of chalk board erasers and she picked a different student to do the other half of the erasers. Mrs.Joyce picked Austine. Then the two girls went outside to go and clap the erasers and then BAM Ellen had ripped Austine dress. Austine wanted to slap her but instead she said “Ellen it wasn't me who had ripped your sash off your dress, it was that one new kid Otis.” Ellen said back to her, “I’m so sorry Austine you were behind me so I thought it was you. Can we just be friends again?” Later on both of them were best friends again.

I thought book was very good. I have read different books by Beverly Cleary, I think she is a very good book writer. I think everyone should read this book because it is just that good. This book is very detailed from beginning  to the end. One thing that i didn't like was Ellen was a very good girl but she just blocked herself from finding friends. All in all I thought this was a very good book.

By Llexis, 6th Grade Reader

Lou Gehrig Biography

The book I read was Lou Gehrig.  This book starts off as Lou Gehrig being a kid he plays baseball with kids who are about 2 years older than him when he came to the sandlot all the kids said, "Get out of here fatty", he just didnt really say anything back.  Then one day he and a kid got in a fight and the kid was 8 and Lou was 6 and Lou won.  Then one day when Lou went down to the washers to wash laundry he got 50 cents and he gave it to his mother. He also had to a lot of other chores and earn money for his mom. One day his mom went to the lake and got pickled eels and sold them at the food market.  The next morning they went out before school to play baseball and Mr. Fish cakes came out and said they  couldn't play so they played a trick on him, they put a scarecrow that looked like a dead person and then he went up there then they came out laughing.  Then a couple years later Lou goes to highschool and tries out for the baseball team. He made it, so they won some games and made it to the championships in Chicago. They won there, then the book talks about how he goes to the New York Yankees and they win the World Series.
This was very good. I enjoyed it so much that I finished it in 2 weeks. The book is about baseball and Lou Gehrig. It is written like a life event or a time line. I recommend this book to Isaiah.           By Gabe, 6th Grade Reader

Ranger's Apprentice - The Sorcerer of the North

Will finally became a ranger! He was assigned a mission to find out some information about a sorcerer. He set off to Macindaw, disguised as a juggler, with his friend Alice. She was disguised as a princess for the quest. Once Will got there, he sang a few songs to gain the people’s trust. After he did that, he asked a few questions like, “What have you heard about this sorcerer?” He went to find the sorcerer and found out that he’s just a medic. While he found this out, his friend Alice’s cover was blown and she was held captive. Keren, the evil cousin of the lord, was trying to take over the kingdom and he thought Will and Alice might ruin his plans. Keren used a magic ball that calms the human mind to make Alice tell everything about their plans. Will made an attempt to save Alice, but he failed because of Keren. After he failed, he barely made it out and he is waiting in the woods for his next opportunity to save Alice.

I highly recommend the book Rangers Apprentice Sorcerer of the North to people who like action. This book was my favorite so far. Therefore I think whoever reads this book will really like it.  I asked a friend if he liked it and he said, “This was an awesome book!”  

By Cody, 6th Grade Reader

The City of Embers

This book is sequel to the book City of Ember. In the beginging Lina Mayfleet, Doon Harrow, and Poppy Mayfleet are waiting for the people of their village to arrive. When the people arrive the start heading towards a nearby village, a village known as Sparks. The village accepted them for

6 months. The people of Sparks told them that they will have to stay in the Pioneer Hotel. Lina

had to do the chores that Dr.Hester told her to do. One day while she was walking she noticed

someone riding a bike. Later that same day she asked Dr.Hester if he had a bike and if she could

ride it. She did not know how to ride a bike however so learning was going to be difficult. Torren,

a little boy, got mad because his brother Caspar didn’t want to take him on an adventure. Torren

then took 2 crates of tomatoes and throws them against the wall. In the morning Doon discovers

a large crowd of people around the area where Torren threw the tomatoes. THe crowd starts to accuse each other of the crime. Then out of nowhere Torren comes running down the street.

Torren makes the accusation that Doon committed the crime. The crowd starts to head towards him. After that incident the people of Ember got mad at the people of Sparks. One day someone

wrote on the wall of the plaza “The cave people must go!”. The people of Sparks kicked the people out of their village. They said that they had to leave the next day. That night the people

of Ember decided to attack the village. The next morning they headed off to attack the village.

When they arrived the chanted “We will not go !!” A fire was started in the fighting which spread

to the trees and the grass. Doon hears a cry coming from the tree. Doon quickly climbs the tree

and rescues the child. The child was Torren. Lina starts helping to put out the fire. In the end

the villagers accept the people of Ember.

                                                       Review

  This book was very entertaining, funny, and suspenseful. I enjoyed it because it had a lot of

problem solving. It was also cool because they put out a fire with teamwork even though

they didn’t like each other. I think this is a must read for students who like books like this.

By Zoltan, 6th Grade Reader

The Report Card

This story was about a girl named Nora that got bad grades, but she is a very smart girl, she didn’t want anyone to know about it. She is going to manage her 5th grade year by  not letting anyone know that she is a genius. She does not want them to know that she is not an ordinary kid. So she wants to keep it that way. She has got a lot of people to get bad grades to that people could figure out that in school its not about just getting good grades, because in her school they have a gifted program. That means that it's a program for the smart kids, she thinks that makes kids feel that they are  dumb so she is getting everyone to get bad grades so that people could notice that grades aren’t everything  they know. So one day she has brought a report card to prove a point to her parents, to show them that its not all about the grades. So then everyone has found out that she is a genius, then all eyes went on Nora. Nora doesn't enjoy been the smart one so her secret is out. Then is that when all the problems come together. Then it gets harder but its not easy.

      Review

       I think that this book was really interesting because this is showing that just because you are smart that doesn't mean that you have to hide it from other people like Nora.She was afraid of what people were going to treat her differently  so she kept it a secret. Over the past months she hasn't made some great choices but they turned out good.I think her life is really interesting.  I think that the 5th and 6th graders will like this book. I hope that people that read this book will enjoy it.

By Lesley, 6th Grade Reader

Tunnels

In Tunnels, Will, an albino 12 year old boy, gets into a lot of trouble. First, his father disappears. One day, Will and his best friend Chester are walking to the store when they notice a big guy in a black coat following them. When they got faster, he got faster. When they got to the store, they shut and latched the door. After a while, the guy went away. When Will got home, the police were investigating his dad’s disappearance. The next day, his mom said that he and his sister Rebecca have to live with their aunt. Will had found a hatch behind a bookshelf in the basement of their house. Will doesn’t want to live with her because she is really a slob, so he decides to go down the hatch with his friend Chester and see where it leads. When he goes down, he finds a large underground city. He doesn’t know that people live there, so he checks out a house. He doesn’t believe his  eyes when he finds a candle burning and 2 bowls of soup, still steaming. When he walks out, a police tackles both him and Chester and brings them to the police station, where he throws them in jail. He notices that the police man is wearing a big black coat like the man that chased them topsoil. A few days after, someone lets Will get out to meet his real dad and his albino brother, Cal. It turns out that Will had been born there, and his mom had gotten out and taken him topsoil where she let someone else adopt him. After that, while Chester stays in jail, Will is taken to his old house to live there.

Every Sunday, Will, Cal, and their father go to church. Will had never been to church before, so it was sort of a new experience for him. After that, they have to go to work with their dad. They work on unclogging waterways. On their way back, their dad goes home without them when they find their uncle Tam. He takes them to a bar where Tam gets into a bar fight. He ends up winning and buys each of them a drink to celebrate. They sit down with Amos, Tam’s friend. Will really wants to go back to his house from top soil. When Tam finds out about this, he helps Will devise a plan to get both will and Chester back home, although Cal cannot come. Will goes into the police station where Chester is being held and throws some rocks, that light up when you throw them, at the police guy that’s keeping watch. Then he takes Chester into a secret door, where he finds Cal. It turns out that he snuck out to come with them. Will tells him to go back, and by the time he is done saying for him to go back, Rebecca, who turns out to be a styx, has taken Chester by one arm and started shutting the door. Will tries grabbing his arm, but it is already too late to save him. Will has to let go and release Chester to the styx.

Will heads to the topsoil. On his way there, he finds a city called the Eternal City. They have to stay there for a few nights since they don’t have water and there was water there. The city was long abandoned and there were no traces of humans. Soon after, they found a stairway that leads them to a small canal. They follow the canal to the end of it, where they find that it is night topsoil. Cal and Will head off for Will’s old house.

When they get there, they find no one there. Cal and Will take showers, get dressed with fresh clothes, and eat a few frozen meals before deciding to go to Will’s aunt’s house. When they get there, they fill her in on what is happening. They stay a few nights and then head back to save Chester. On their way back, when they pass through the Eternal city, they find Tam hiding from some styx. He helps them get away by sacrificing himself to the styx. Amos leads them to a hatch in a well, where they jump through and land on a train, where they find Chester.

I think this book was very confusing. Why would Rebecca be faking being his sister? And why would Tam help them escape and then sacrifice himself to save them from the styx?

Tam hardly even knew Will. My favorite part was when Will was showing Cal topsoil. Another part that I liked was at the end, when they found Chester on the train. This is probably one of my favorite books ever.

By Timothy, 6th Grade Reader

Percy Jackson and the Olympians The Demigod Files by Rick Riordan

In the book “Percy Jackson and the Olympians The Demigod Files” is mostly about 3 different missions Percy went on. The first mission he went on was where this girl named Clarisse the daughter of Ares had a chariot but her brothers stole it from her. So Percy and Clarisse go to New York Harbor and they find Phobos and Deimos “ Ares sons” with the chariot. Percy shot water at him with a wave of his hand because after all he is the the son of Poseidon. He made Phobos and Deimos fly backwards into the ocean water. So Clarisse and Percy got the chariot back. So after that Clarisse took the chariot back to Ares and she told him all about what happened with Phobos and Deimos. The next one was where the camp was playing capture the flag then Beckendorf , the son of Hephaestus ,  saw a huge ant the size of a German Sheppard was dragging a huge bronze dragon head and then beckendorf went after it and the ant shot acid at him he fell to the ground and Percy went to get Selena and Annabeth. So the ants left to get more and to attack the intruder so Percy Annabeth and Selena started to drag the dragons head away from the ant hill. They found a huge crater with the dragons body in it. Annabeth started to try to reattach the wires of the head to the wires on the body so they can get it up and running so they can save Beckondorf. Annabeth got the head attached and the dragon got up and started toward the ant hill and started to blow fire at the hill. A hull bunch of ant were on fire running into the woods. Then it stopped and Percy uncapped riptide witch is his pen that turns into a 3 foot long bronze sword. They started to walk into the ant hill. They found Beckondorf and they got back to camp. Then they were walking in Hollywood and the ground under them disappeared and Nico, Thalia, and Percy fell into the underworld. Standing next to them was Persephone the goddess of spring. She said that she needed their help to find the sword of Hades has gotten stolen. So Percy and his  friends started to look for the sword. They found a man cursing and yelling while moving giant boulders up a mountain so Percy and his friends went to go talk to him. He refused to talk  them and they had to threaten him for him to talk to them. They asked him if he saw a guy with the key shaped sword. He said that he saw a guy with an eye patch carrying the sword of Hades. So Thalia Percy and Nico started to go the way the guy had pointed them to. They found this foggy path with a mountain cave at the end. The man saw him and started to attack. So Percy uncapped riptide and Thalia started to shoot arrows at him while Nico pulled out his sword. Thalia shot two arrows at his shoulders while Percy cut his legs two times each. So he fell to the ground. Nico stabbed him in his heart. They got the sword back. So they took the  Sword back to Hades and Percy made Hades promise not to use the sword against the gods.

Review:

    I really liked this book because of all the action and cool mythology stuff in it. I think that Angelo will like this because he seems like he is very into mythology books. I bet that anyone who reads this book will probably really like this book.

By Josh, 6th Grade Reader

                     

Zombiekins by Kevin Bolger

Stanley and his friend Miranda were walking down the road and the saw a yard sale. Stanley saw a box that said Zombiekins in it and there was a teddy bear in it. He bought it and then the widow appeared and gave them a bag of taffy and she also told him to read the instructions. When he got to a garbage can he took Zombiekins out of his box and threw the box away without reading the instructions. When he got home , he walked into the playroom and saw his little sister Daisy playing tea party with her stuffies. Stanley threw Zombiekins in the toy chest and went to bed. During the night, moonlight shined on the toy chest Zombiekins arose from the depths of the toy chest and climbed out. When it got on its feet, he ripped 3 voice activated stuffies apart. When Stanley got out of bed he found the mess and blamed it on the dog. He took Zombiekins to school and got it taken away and Mr.Baldengrumpy put it on his desk and then he put on a video about space so when the video had a picture of a moon Zombiekins came to life. When Felicity picked it up, Zombiekins bit her and then she turned into a zombie and Zombiekins walked out of the classroom into the hallway. Felicity waited till class was over and at recess bit a lot of sixth graders and they also turned into zombies. Soon the whole school turned into zombies except for Stanley and Miranda. When they were running away from the zombies, they came across the teachers lounge they had no choice but to enter the lounge. The reason why they had no choice but to enter is because the teachers don’t want any kids in the room and the door had a lot of stickers that said get away. They blocked the door with the couch and the chairs and the unstacked home work. When the zombies stopped banging on the door Stanley and Miranda opened the door to see if the zombies were still out there. The zombies were still out there so Stanley and Miranda slammed the door shut and slid the couch in front of the door to stop the zombies from getting in. Unfortunately, the zombies still got in and then Stanley and Miranda started throwing taffy at the zombies. When the zombies bent down and ate the taffy, Stanley and Miranda got a chance to run out the door to run away. When Stanley and Miranda got to the only door that leads to the outside of school they found Zombiekins. Good thing that they had more pieces of taffy to throw at Zombiekins so they threw a piece of taffy at Zombiekins. Then Zombiekins fell asleep and luckily all of the kids that turned into zombies turned back into humans. Stanley captured Zombiekins in his knapsack and took Zombiekins home to put Zombiekins in a metal chest and put it in his closet. Zombiekins never came out again. I think this story was great. One thing that was good is that it had a lot of funny pictures in the book. I like how Stanley and Miranda get trapped by zombies and always find a solution to get away from the zombies. It teaches a lesson to never give up and to face your fears. It gave a lot of detail for each event that happened in the book. I think if he read the instructions the kids wouldn't have turned into zombies and there wouldn't have been a long story. I’m happy that Stanley didn't read the instructions so there would be a story. I recommend this book to Daniel because he loves talking about zombies and acts like a zombie at recess so I think he would love this book. He also plays zombie video games.

By Angelo, 6th Grade Reader

Missing May by Cynthia Rylant

The book I read is called Missing May by Cynthia Rylant.The beginning of this book is about a young girl named Summer.Summer's parents died when she was very young, so she got passed around from her family in Ohio. Nobody in Ohio wanted Summer,so when her Aunt May and Uncle Ob came they had lunch with Summer. She didn't want to ask for anything because she was really shy. After that her aunt and uncle knew that she needed someone,so they took her home. Not too long before Summer went home with her new family, her Aunt May died. In the middle of the book her Uncle Ob said that May was there but in some type of spirit form. Cletus,Ob's friend,suggested that they go to a girl who can talk to spirits. Summer thought it was a good idea because the girl they were going to liked bats and so did May. The end of the book is that they found out that the girl died last year around the time May did. Summer cried when an owl flew over because it reminded her of May. Finally,Summer, Cletus,and her uncle Ob sat at the dinner table and drank their coffee. When they were done with their coffee, they took Ob's paintings outside and put them in May's old garden. That was the summary of the book I read called Missing May. I liked this book a lot.I liked this book because it was weird how Ob felt May, but in some type of spirit form. When they wanted May to come back to them, she did not come to them.I also liked that Cletus thought that every time he showed Summer a picture she would want to do a report about the picture. That is why I really liked this book.The person I would recommend this book to is Hailey.I would recommend this book to her because I think she likes books that are realistic fiction. That is why I would recommend this amazing book to Hailey.

 By Alexis, 6th Grade Reader

The City of Ember by:Jeanne DuPrau

The book City of Ember, is about a girl who is 12 and is chosen for Pipesworks. In Ember electricians are constantly fixing the electricity. Ember is well known for its blackouts. The girl's name is Lina Mayfleet and her friends name is Doon Harrow. Lina doesn't like the fact of working in the pipes. Doon however wants Pipesworks because the genarator is located there. They end up swithching jobs and getting in trouble. After a few days Lina finds a box with a docuement that is chewed up. She tries to decypher the docuement. Doon discovered a room in the pipes, but it was locked. The next day Doon tried the door again, it opened inside there was the town mayor sleeping. Around him was a room filled clothes and canned food. Lina also then cracked the code.The code was a way out of the city. A few weeks later they started packing a pillowcase full of essential supplies, and started to head off, but first Doon made a note to the people to know where they went. They take Lina's little sister with them. They reach the pipes and headed by the river. They looked down and they found a door.Inside were candles, matches, paddles, and one boat.They got on the boat and headed off. After 2 hours of riding the boat they come to a stop They spot land they jump off the boat and head towards land. They climb uphill because that is the only direction they can go. After another two hours they reach the top. They decide to walk to a nearby canyon and toss their letter that they wrapped around a rock down the canyon hoping that someone in Ember would find it. I think The City of Ember is a good book. It is a fantastic book for readers that like adventure. I especially loved this book because it is part mystery and part adventure. I did not however like how depressing the city was, another reason it was depressing was because her grandma dies and how the city has no light. That was my summary and review on The City of Ember. By Zoltan, 6th Grade Reader

Ramona Quimby, Age 8 - Beverly Cleary

Summary- Basically, what happens in this book is, Ramona is starting the third grade, and she doesn't much like her teacher. She overhears her in the office calling her a neusance, because she cracked what she thought was a hard- boiled egg on her head. She had to go to the nurses office to get it all out. Her family has a bit of problems themselves. Everyday after school, Ramona has to go to Howies's grandmother's house because her mother and father are in work when Ramona gets out of school. Ramona doesn't like having to be at Howie's Grandmother's house because her grand daughter, Willa Jean, always wants to play "Baby" games with Ramona. Beezus is having a problem herself. Beezus is upset because her parents won’t let her go to her friend, Mary Jane's house for a sleepover. Her parents say she comes home way too grouchy. Finally, on this dreadful rainy Saturday afternoon, their dad, Mr. Quimby gets a wonderful idea. He decides to take the whole family out to special dinner. The family likes this idea, and Ramona suggests the family goes to Whopperburger, one of her favorite resteraunt. Once they get to Whopperburger, Ramona starts to get a little annoyed because a man, sitting across the isle, keeps looking over and smiling at her. She just ignored this, but in her head, she was just thinking, how rude! The family ate their dinner happily, and when they were all finally finished, the father says "Check please." and the waitress just sits there in amazement, trying to speak to the family, but with no words coming out. She finally manages to say.. "Well this has never happened before, but your dinner has already been payed for. The family was shocked. Especially Ramona. Then the mother speaks up and says " Wow. It must have been that sweet man sitting across the isle." "Maybe." Says Mr. Quimby. The family walks out of the resturaunt in silence, and they were in a good mood the rest of the day. Review- I really enjoyed this story because it is a really funny book, and it has a ton of wonderful, and incredibly funny characters. I really would advise you to read it, because you would REALLY enjoy it! I also suggest that you read the rest of the Beverly Cleary books. Very good books! -Kiani

Romana Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary

Ramona Quimby, Age 8 Summary- Basically, what happens in this book is, Ramona is starting the third grade, and she doesn't much like her teacher. She overhears her in the office calling her a nuisance, because she cracked what she thought was a hard- boiled egg on her head. She had to go to the nurses office to get it all out. Her family has a bit of problems themselves. Everyday after school, Ramona has to go to Howies's grandmother's house because her mother and father are in work when Ramona gets out of school. Ramona doesn't like having to be at Howie's Grandmother's house because her grand daughter, Willa Jean, always wants to play "Baby" games with Ramona. Beezus is having a problem herself. Beezus is upset because her parents won’t let her go to her friend, Mary Jane's house for a sleepover. Her parents say she comes home way too grouchy. Finally, on this dreadful rainy Saturday afternoon, their dad, Mr. Quimby gets a wonderful idea. He decides to take the whole family out to special dinner. The family likes this idea, and Ramona suggests the family goes to Whopperburger, one of her favorite restaurant. Once they get to Whopperburger, Ramona starts to get a little annoyed because a man, sitting across the isle, keeps looking over and smiling at her. She just ignored this, but in her head, she was just thinking, how rude! The family ate their dinner happily, and when they were all finally finished, the father says "Check please." and the waitress just sits there in amazement, trying to speak to the family, but with no words coming out. She finally manages to say.. "Well this has never happened before, but your dinner has already been payed for. The family was shocked. Especially Ramona. Then the mother speaks up and says " Wow. It must have been that sweet man sitting across the isle." "Maybe." Says Mr. Quimby. The family walks out of the restaurant in silence, and they were in a good mood the rest of the day. Review- I really enjoyed this story because it is a really funny book, and it has a ton of wonderful, and incredibly funny characters. I really would advise you to read it, because you would REALLY enjoy it! I also suggest that you read the rest of the Beverly Cleary books. Very good books! By Kiani, The 6th Grader