Thursday, September 27, 2012

Sisters Grimm: The Fairy-Tale Detectives

  " I'm going to die of boredom here" thought Sabrina as she was on the train to Ferry Port Landing to meet her new adopted guardian. Michael Buckley's The Sister's Grimm; Fairy-Tale Detectives amazed me with its creative, mysterious adventures. This book is about 2 girls named Sabrina and Daphne Grimm, who's parents disappeared one night and never came back. Police tried to find clues but only found one: A blood red hand print on the front of their parents' car. They were sent to an orphanage and escaped from several homes, and one day, a Mrs. Grimm adopted them. She explained to the girls that she was their grandmother. But, the Grimm girls' father had told them that their grandmother had died before Sabrina was born. Daphne was believed her right away, but Sabrina thought she was crazy. She ended up realizing that Relda Grimm, was their grandmother. The town is full of fairy-tale characters. They go on journeys to rescue Ever-afters, and most importantly, try to find Sabrina and Daphne's parents. Why did their dad lie to them? Will they find their parents? Read the book to find out.


The settings in this book are so well described. As I read on in the book, I just imagined in my head what they were describing. The way it's described, you feel like you're a part of the book. It's has some differences and similarities to normal settings, like on the streets, in a living room etc.. but, it also adds a bit of non-fiction objects as well such as, fairy-tale account journals, a room with hundreds of rooms inside with every kind of magical thing you could possibly think of such as, magic slippers, magic wands, forgettful dust, magic carpets, a talking mirror, and so on. It's really a magical book with amazingly described settings.


My opinion of the book is, this is my favorite book/series I've ever read. It's so descriptive about what's going on and makes you feel like your apart of the book, and once you start reading, you won't want to put the book down! I highly recommend this book to people who enjoy mysteries and fantasy/fairytale books, you will love this book and the rest of the series too!












Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Leviathan
By: Scott Westerfeld


Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld is a fast pace adventure book that kept me on the edge of my seat and wanting more the entire time. This book takes place in the beginning of world war one. It has historical fiction as well as steam punk attributes.

When aleks fencing teacher wakes him up in the middle of the night to do walker training, Alek is confused he has never piloted a big walker, let alone at night. In the walker his fencing teacher tells him that his mother and father were killed and they are running from their own empire to get Alek to safety.

Deryn just wants to be in the royal air navy, but there is one problem. She is a girl, she has to ware a disguise to fulfill her only dream. When she is trying out for the british royal air navy her huxley (a giant flying jelifish) breaks its ropes and starts flying away she goes on a wild ride untill the leviathan rescues her and decides to take her on their secrat mission to Istanbul

One of the quotes I enjoyed the most was Dr. Barlows at the end of the book when Alek asked her who she was and she said"I am exactly as you see me". I really liked that quote because I really feel that most of our opinions about people are not who they are but more of what we think of them.

This was definitely one of my favorite books of the summer. The pictures he created in my mind were amazing. I strongly recommend this book to anyone 8+.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

The Inheritance Cycle

The Inheritance Cycle,
by Christopher Paoloini.

This book is adventurous, and dragon loving. Anyone who likes fantasy novels will thoroughly enjoy what The Inheritance Cycle has to offer.

It starts when Eragon, the main character, is hunting in the woods, when an explosion goes off.  A strange blue polished stone is in the middle of the circle of fire. After the deer, he was hunting, had run away scared by the explosion. he decided that the stone might be worth something so he takes it back to his village, to sell to the butcher but the butcher wont take it. After that is when the book starts to get interesting. His uncle is severely injured by the emperor and his evil dragon Shurkin. Eragon flees with the storyteller from his village and tries to avenge his uncle by fighting the emperor Galbatrox.

In my opinion the book is a very well written book, that makes everyone who reads it never want it to end. All the characters are very well developed all the way throughout the books. I recommend it highly to any fantasy lover or any one who likes the Rick Riordan books.

"You can't argue with all the fools in the world. It's better to let them have their way, then trick them when they're not paying attention.'' ~Brom. that quote is one of my favorites because Brom, the character speaking, is a very old grumpy man who doesn't waist any words and he is one of my favorite characters.








Thursday, September 20, 2012

Cold Sassy Tree - Olive Ann Burns
Cold Sassy Tree is about a Small Town in Georgia called Cold Sassy. It takes place in about 1906. It is about a boy named Will and his family and the adventures they have there. But when his grandma dies, his grandpa re-marries a lady about 45 years younger than him. All his children are angry, and don't want anything to do with his new wife. At one point in the book, he gets stuck in the middle of a train trestle, and a train starts coming. he has to outrun the train over the trestle and find a way off the tracks before the train hits him. He says " I was laying on the track when I heard a low rumbling. then I knew a train was coming around the corner." I loved this book, and it is on my list of top 5 favorite books. I liked it because it takes place a long time ago, and to see people interact with things that were new to them, like cars that we use every day without thinking about it. His grandpa especially likes cars, which is funny because wills dad, doesn't think they are important, and they are dangerous and unnecessary. Every chapter is kind of like its own story. I would recommend this book to anyone.

Cold Sassy Tree book cover

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Where The Sidewalk Ends

 
I have decided to do my book review on the poem book, Where the sidewalk ends. This book contains many fantastic poems, and creative ideas spewing from the spine. This book is by Shel Silverstein. One of the poems in this books is about how a king loved peanut butter so much, that for dinner that was all he ate. He asked his servant to make him and "extra sticky" peanut butter sandwich. The sandwich was so sticky that his mouth was glued together from all the peanut butter. his family had to push and pull to unglue his sticky situation. soon enough, the peanut butter was loosened, and he wanted another peanut butter sandwich. I liked this story because it reminded me of my five year old brother who absolutely LOVES chicken nuggets. One day doesn't go by without him begging for chicken nuggets. Just like how the king wouldn't eat anything but peanut butter sandwiches. I recommend this book to anyone who loves poetry, or creativity. Shel Silverstein supplies a lot of that in his books. I enjoyed it because it had a lot of character and excitement.