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Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Spring Break Independent Reading Project

Please post a comment about the book you read over spring break.

Paragraph 1 - This is your summary of the book. Describe the setting, characters, basic plot points, etc.  You will also need to indentify the genre of the book and the author.  

Paragraph 2 - Evaluate the text.  What do you like and dislike about this book?  What recommendations could you make for someone who is considering reading this book?  What connections can you personally make to this story?  

Be sure to proofread your comments. It is a good idea to type it in MS Word or another word processing program, then copy and paste it here. Feel free to comment on other people's books, as well, but comment separately from your book comment.

This is a project grade, worth 40 points.

24 comments:

  1. The book I'm reading this spring break is " A Smart Girl's Guide to Money" by American Girl. This book really is nonfiction. Also, this book was not written by one author but a collaboration of authors. The American Girl series is a group of books that toch on multiple topics, from hosting parties to internet safety. It is specifically for girls ages 9-13. My mother began buying this series because it "stimulates young girls' minds and brings the focus from the negative media of today'. I personally like this book because I am trying to start a business with Sydney, who has also read this book.
    This book talks about how to make, save, and (smartly) spend money. The book's format is shaped in ways that relate to girl things, such as lipgloss or shoes. There are three parts to this book, the first is about creating your business, it is my personal favorite. The next part talks about saving money. This chapter includes how to make a budget, why to get a bank account, etc. The last chapter talks about how to wisely spend your money. I would recommend this book to any girl who would like to do more with her money. I have lived by this book since I first got it last year. I plan to use the given tips for the future.

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  2. My book is called “Fly Girl”, and the author is Sherri L. Smith. The setting takes place in Texas and the events take place in the 1940s, around the time America enters World War II. The main character is Ida Mae Jones. Her friends are Jolene, Patsy, and Lily. Her mother, grandfather, brothers Tom and Abel are all in this story. The genre of this book is historical fiction. This story is about how Ida fulfills her dreams to fly by joining the WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots) team. She joins to prove that a women can fly as good as a man and to serve her country. Ida is half- black and half-white so she has to pretend to be a white girl in order to join. Along the way, Ida starts to lose her true identity as a Negro and has to neglect her family. Ida’s friend, Patsy, died and her other friend Lily has to leave the airforce to start a family. Ida still has the courage to continue to serve the airforce and prove that women are capable of doing the same things as a man.

    I like how Ida shows determination in the airforce to serve her country and prove to men that women can achieve what a man can achieve. I dislike the fact that the airforce takes only white women and that Ida has to pretend to be white even though she’s half-black. I would recommend this book to people who like historical fiction and want to learn how women served our country. Ida served her country even though she had pretended to be a white woman. Ida and I are alike because we both like to prove things to other people. Ida had to prove that women can achieve what a man can achieve. I try to prove to my family that I have what it takes to be a doctor someday.

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  3. The book I read was called Leviathan.This story has two main characters. One is a girl named Deryn. She is a girl who has her air marine brother teach how to be a boy. She dresses like a boy to join the air marines. She is part of a nation that worships science. They mix different animals that they use for flight and other army and practical uses. These are fabricated beasts. The other main character is a boy named Aleksander. He is the prince to the Hungarian throne. His mother and father were assasinated by Germans just to start a war. Now Alek, Klopp his meckaniks teacher, and his fencing teacher Count Volger. In this timeline alternate from the our's meckaniks are basically the art of war machines. the genre is Fantasy and the author is Scott Westerfeld. This is based on the summer of 1914.
    I like how this book is really interesting. It moves pretty fast though. I would recommend this to someone who liked any kind of war like books although this probably has much less violence. I really liked the storyline of the book too.

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  4. The book Im reading now is part of a series calld Rangers Apprentice. The author is John Flanagan. This is "Book #8 The Kings of Clonmel". This book series is about multiple kingdoms with equipment of knights and Archerers. It gets its title because there are Rangers. A rangers weapons are a Longbow and a throwing knife and a saxe knife. The series begins with a boy named Will becoming a apprentice to the legendary Halt. Their friendship grew as they became friends with a warrior apprentice named Horace. In this book They find out Halt is the heir to the throne of Clonmel. Eventually they go there but not togain the throne. A religious cult known as the outsiders have gained control of 5 of the 6 Hibernian Kingdoms. There strategy is simple. The have bandits raid villages Then if you worship "Alseiass the Golden God" (Phony untrue God) They will be protected and when the people pray to "Alseiass" The Leader of the cult will tell the bandits to stop Attacking that village. So Halt Will and Horace Go to Clonmel and to counter "The Golden God" They bring out the sunrise Warrior (Horace). Who is the sunrise warrior you ask? He is a old Hibernian Myth That when trouble comes the sunrise warrior will come. Eventually Ferris (Halts brother and ruler of clonmel) Refuses to support the sunrise warrior. So Horace(sunrise warrior) Knocks ferris out. Since Halt and ferris are identical twins Then Halt acts like ferris and they agree to single combat Horace the sunrise warrior verses to of the cults Henchmen. Eventually the let Ferris free and now he has to go alongwith it. So Horace beats the first henchman But before the battle against the second one he is drugged by Genovesans. A Genovesan is a assasin The leader of the cult has 3. So eventually will finds out and shoots the genovesan in single combat. But after that nobody realizes that The Leader of the cult 12 henchmen and the other 2 Genovesans left. One of the Genovesans shot the real king ferris through the back of his chair. Eventually the problem arrives "Who will be the next king?" Halt gets to choose because he should be king but Halts Hibernian cousin (also Ferrises cousin) is given the throne.(Preview book 9) Then Halt Will and Horace go to follow tennyson (The cults leader) Eventually they dicrteet tennyson and destroys the cult but Halt almost died but was saved by a healer. Eventually that all goes up to book 10. In the begining of 10 The leader of a kingdom similar to china is overthrone. So Horace will and other Friends and a army of farmers workers must defeat one of the worlds most elite troops the Senshi in order to help The emporer regain his throne.
    This series is adventurous. The books are so good they make you want to keep reading so you cant stop. I is a action and adventure series. I highly wait very highly recomend this book. It is a series you can get at bookstores but sadly our library only has up to book 6. but the series is so Awsome you will want to own it.

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  5. The book I read for spring break is called Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney. The characters in this book are Manny, Rodrick, mom, dad, Rowley, and Greg. This story mainly takes place in school and at home. The genre of this book is nonfiction because none of it is true. This book is about a boy named Greg and his best friend Rowley tht are going back to school for sixth grade. Before school Greg's older brother Rodrick starts teasing him about school because he knows he might not survive in middle school. So far the school year for Greg is bad because he doesn't have ant friends except for Rowley and Rowley is embarrassing him. Ths is bad for Greg's reputation of trying to be cool. In the book Rowley broke his arm and Rowley was getting a lot of attention, but Greg was trying to be cool so he signed up for the school newspaper cartoon and again Rowley started to get even more attention for the cartoon.Then halloween was coming up and they got into some rouble with some teenagers. After a while Rowley and Greg stopped being friends so Rowley got new friends fast and Greg didn't have any. Greg tried to make friends with the weird kid Fregley, but that didn't work because Fregley was trying to chase Greg with snot on his fingers. Greg also tried out for a school play, but he also got in trouble because he threw apples at Patty. After the plat Greg use his little brother MAnny to get Rodrick in trouble and it actually worked. At the end of the book the teenagers from halloween cayght Rowley and GReg at school. They made Rowley eat the cheese that was molded, left on the ground, and old. They tried to make Greg eat it, but he said he was lactose and tolerant, an adult also came out there in the nick of time to stop them. Everyone came outside and thought Rowley ate the cheese, but Greg wanted to get his friend back and said he ate the cheese. Finally at the end of the year Greg got his friend back and also had the chees touch. I would highly recommend this book. This book is funny and anyone might be able to relate to it. I've read this book a lot over spring break and thought it was interesting. I don't have any dislikes about this book. I can make a connection about siblings getting you in trouble because my younger brother tells my mom or someone else I hit him and I do sometimes. I don't really get in trouble because my mom alrady knows he's lying sometimes.

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  6. My book is called Frida Khalo. She is an artist. It talks about her life. It explains her art. It also tells her life story. I would reccomend this book to a friend. It is so cool. Frida Khalo had an interseting life. It is cool to find out how her marrige and life impacted her.The book also talks about different types of art. This book is is the Chicago Public Library. I also loved how Frida exporessed herself through art and when she got divorced she felt sad and was depressed.Her doctor told Diego ( her husband) that marrying her again would help her medical ilness. It did and they bought a house and lived together and loved each other with pet and animals to help with their art.

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  7. The title of my book is Peak. It is by Roland Smith and the genre is realistic fiction. This is about a boy named Peak who was arrested for climbing many skyscrapers as stunts and a practice for climbing mountains. As he was being held in prison, another boy tried to do what he did and died. As a way to let his story die in New York and the rest of the United States, he moved with his father. His father decided to have Peak climb Mount. Everest. He would be the youngest person to summit Everest, gaining his father money. This book is about the different people Peak met and the different crises Peak went through with the other members on his team to summit Everest. The main characters include Peak, Josh (Peak’s dad), Sun-Jo (Peak’s dad’s friend’s grandson), Zopa (Sun-Jo’s grandfather), Holly (reporter), JR, Will, and Jack (film crew), and Captain Shek (general looking for illegal climbers). Paula and Patrice (Peak‘s sisters, Peak’s mom, Rolf (Peak’s stepfather). This mainly takes place in Tibet/Nepal on Mount. Everest.


    What I liked about this story is how specific and detailed this story is. I didn’t know much about climbing or Mount. Everest, but reading this I visualized it very well and could see Peak and the rest of his team climbing mountains and taking care of patients. I didn’t like how their wasn’t as much dialogue. I recommend this to people who like books with adventures. I recommend this to those who like books related to climbing. I can personally connect to this because we both went through and adventure with a different side of the family.

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  8. Jamison J. Martin
    I read some of a book seris called Bleach by Tite Kubo. This is a manga or a comic. This seris is about a boy named Ichigo Kurosaki. He is a 16 year old boy who witnessed the death of his mother as a kid. He has 2 sisters and a father. He than is struck by a Hollow (an evil ghost) and is saved by a soul reaper named Rukia. Rukia than gives her soul reaper powers to Ichigo. When the soul society heard of this they sentenced Rukia to death.Ichigo and his friends than save her but 3 captains(Aizen,Kaneme, and Gim) in the soul society betray everybody. But than Ichigo friend Orihime is captured by Aizen and his group. Now Ichigo must batlle through hollows, arrancars, and the 10 espada to get to the tracherous Aizen.

    I love this manga seris because it has much surprise and action.Many events and secrets are revvealed such as Ichigos Father is a Soul reaper and Rukia is Byakuas sister-in-law and not her biological sister.I recommend this to boys that like fantasies and action because the storyline gets intense. I also recommend this to girls because the is some funny/romantical scences.I can relate to Ichigo because of the way he act.He worries alot but also and have a diverse family.I think that we both aim for our goals and have certain feelings towards other either good or bad.He is also favorited by his friends and has many secrets he keepout of school.

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  9. The book I’m reading for spring break is called Diary of a Wimpy Kid THE UGLY TRUTH. The main characters are Greg Heffley, Rowley Jefferson, and Greg’s family. This book takes place is many places including: school, home, relative’s house, and at Uncle Gary’s 5th wedding. Greg and Rowley are still ex-best friend, but in the end they became best friends again. The author of this book is Jeff Kinney. He is the author of many other books including: The Last Straw, Do it Yourself, Rodrick Rules, and others.

    I would recommend this book to grades 6 through 8. I wouldn’t just recommend this book, I would also recommend the whole series. If someone asks me 4 adjectives that describe this book, I would say funny, cool, interesting, and helpful. My favorite character is Fregley. Everyone thinks Fregley is weird and crazy, but I think he is awesome and different just like me!!!

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  10. Amari Brown-playnogames

    The title of the book I am reading is "Among the free." The author of this book is Margaret Peterson Haddix. This is a non-fiction book. It is about a boy named Luke Garner who is the third-born in his family. He lives in a restrictive society that only allows two children per family. He stood up to fight against this law. Luke sets off a rebellion that overthrows the government. Now there is no authority and there is freedom. Things end up being much worse than he hoped.

    I liked that Luke stood up and rebelled. I liked his braveness and courage. I also liked that there is freedom and no authority. I didn't like that what he hoped for didn't come true. I can connect to this. I thought that being an older brother meant being boss. It also is a huge responsibility for younger siblings. So like Luke, what I had hoped for took a huge turn on me. It wasn't what I expected or wanted.

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  11. The title of my book is called "Sassy Little Sister is not my name". the author is Sharon M. Draper. The genre of the book is fiction. The setting is home and public places. The characters are: Sassy Simone Sanford,her sister Sadora,her brother Sabin,her mom,and dad.The basic plot points are that Sassy is trying to get her family to call her by her real name instead of little sister. So, if they dont call her by her real name she will not answer or talk to them.

    I like that Sassy was able to fix problems and have courage and bravery. What i dont like is that her brother and sister been mean to her. Some recommendations that i would make is that this book is good and some people maybe can relate to her. A connection is that I wanted people to call me my name but sometimes they called me a different name.

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  12. The book I'm reading is called " The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen". Its about a courious prince who volunteers to discover the legendary cuort of tien-Kuo. An old man gives him gifts that Jen will need on his journey. Thhey are a kite, paint box, flute, a bowl,a sanddle, and a sword. He goes to find it withthe help of his servent Mafoo. Then he learns the true meaning of the six gifts, and finds his true destiny.

    I knew it was going to be more to the gifts. Its always more to one side of something. Also this book was great. I mostly don't read adventure books, but this one was different. It didn't have that much adventure, but it was just right. I learned that doing one mysterious thing can lead you to something great like prince Jen in the story.

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  13. The book I read was "The Road" by Carmac McCarthy. The genre of the book is fiction. The main characters are a man and his son. The setting is on earth. The plot of the story is about there is alway hope. Also the author likes to write in third narrative.

    The thing I like about this book is that it talks about how a boy finds hope through all this destruction of the world. What I dislike about the book is that the father was sending the boy off about reality. I recommend this book to people who like to read fiction and like to learn about people journeys. One connection I can make is how people tell one thing but do the other.

    Enia G

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  14. The book I read over spring break was titled Extra Credit. This was a story about two children that came from very different lives. One was named Abby, and the other was Sadeed. Sadeed was born in Afghanistan, and Abby was born in America. Knowing that they were from different backgrounds, of course their reasons were different. Abby was failing the sixth grade and Sadeed thought it was unfair that only girls in his city could write or have a pen pal, thus forming the point of extra credit.
    Of course on some parts of the book, I had to use the strategies. But actually, I did happen to use evaluate the most. For example, I liked how Abby prospered to pass the sixth grade. Also how, Sadeed risked getting in loads of trouble for disobeying the rules of his city. But, I didn’t like how Abby was failing the sixth grade, because that can leave a permanent mark on your future. But throughout all, I really enjoyed reading this book.

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  15. Amber G.

    The book I have been reading is called "Evermore". The book is a fictional novel. The author of my book is Marie Steivafter. The book was about a teenage phsycic who must lead a normal life knowing she was the reason her family death. She can also communicate and see her late sister and is unshure about why she cannot see the auras of certain people.

    I would reccomend this book for advanced readers in 6th to 8th graders. I liked how the story was told in 1st person. I liked how she could read the minds of her peers and friends.I disliked that the book wasn't specefic to how she turned phsycic after nearly dying.

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  16. Amber G.

    Jerusalem I read the same book when I was younger. There are a lot of practicul ideas. However, many of them can be problems. This is because, it todays world not all people are safe and trustable. People may also not want to invest money in lemonade stands as mush as they use to. But other than that they have good businness tips.

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  17. Karion V.

    This spring break I read Avatar The Last Airender books both 1 and 2. The first book was about a water tribe girl named Katara and a water tribe boy named Sakka found an airbender named Aang wich is th Avatar. Aang was found in an ice berg frozen but still survived once the ice berg was cracked open by Katara. Aang's flying bison Appa was also found in the ice berg. Once Aang was found he was tooken to the water tribe for help and suplies. The second book starts out withKatara wanting to go to the North Pole to learn how to be proffesional water bender. And thats prety much it.

    I love this book because I also watch this show on T.V. I picked this book because I went to the book store and I could not find any thing beeter.I like ehis book because it is really exciting. I like the idea of bending. You can bend 5 things in this book and those 5 things are water, earth, fire, air, and even lightning. I would love to bend water.

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  18. Amber, the book speaks nothing of putting up a lemonade stand. It actually suggests ideas better for this time period. But, I agree with what you are saying

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  19. The Book I read is a novel called 'EverMore' that starts the series of the Immortals. It is about a girl named Ever, her 2 friends { Miles & Haven }, & a boy named Damen. Ever was in a car crash ,but hadn't crossed offically into death,so Ever was able to be saved. Ever's mom,dad, & younger sister all died in that accident. A new boy named Damen came to Ever's school & everyone loved him ,but he was specifically for Ever. Damen had taken a major role in Ever's life & helps Ever to stop hiding & be who she really is. Author : Alyson Noel
    Genre: Teen Fiction
    I loved this book because it is like typical teen drama with exaggeration that makes this book more interesting. I also love the fact this series is like the Twilight series I adore ,but with a different twist. You have to love things that aren't real ,but are based off of real life scenarios like books by Stephanie Meyer,Jennifer Echols, & Alyson Noel herself.
    ~* Dyamond *~ ....!

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  20. Brennan Wamble
    I am just finishing this book now. This is the third book of the barnstormers series. The authors of this book are Loren Long and Phil Bildner. This book of the series takes place in Chicago. The main characters are Ruby, Griffith, and the players on the Traveling Nine. Ruby and Griffith have this magic baseball. This baseball is said to make the team win. The chancellor who is a thug knows they have this and is trying everything in his power to take the ball away from them.

    This book is fictional. It talks a lot about baseball. I don't like how fake it is. I mean like hitting balls of fire. Having a magic baseball that helps you win games. You would like this if you like fiction. Something that I have that other people want is my bracelet. It says life happens I wear it when I play baseball, basketball, and football. It gives me confidence because it lets me know that anything can happen during a game. You can win many championships like I have in baseball. You can get injured as much as I have playing football. Or you could just simply lose a game in basketball. Everybody on my teams like my confidence. It just reminds me that life happens.

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  21. This spring break I read a story called The Yellow Star. This is a story about a girl named Sylvia and how her and her family was treated when she was younger. This was because they were jews. They were seperated from the rest of the city by ghettos. they had to hide some nights to make sure Sylvia wouldn't die. At the time, germans were trying to kill all children. Sylvia stayed hiden for 6 years. Because their was war going on betwwen jews and germans they could always here bombs. Sylvia wasn't the only child saved.

    I like this book because everything is true and interesting. Books like this not only tell you about your histroy, but it also tells you about others. I would recomand this book to people that love history. I recomand this book to everyone because everyone should know something about history and how we got where we are. I say this because some people take advantage of waking up to see a new day in a bad way, as if this gift is owed to them
    `nakeya Harris- Rosenthal

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  22. The Book I read was called Thre Girl Who Threw Butterflies. This book is about a girl named Molly who is going through some hard times since her father died in a creepy and strange car accident. She decided to go and try out for the baseball team, which was loaded with boys. Luckily, she didn't look like a fool when a boy named Lonnie came to be partners with her when partners were needed.
    I really like this book. I like this book because it shows that girls could be as good as boys. Molly seemed as perfect as the boys when she made a pitch that made the boys drop their mouths.

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  23. AMARI R.
    The title of my book is “The Tale of Two Pretties” by Lisi Harrison; the genre is DRAMA and fashion. The main characters of my book are: Massie Block, Alicia Rivera, Kristen Gregory, Dylan Marvil, and Claire Lyons. The other characters [that aren’t as important to the book but are needed] : Landon Crane, Hermia, James, Kendra Block, William Block, Merri-Lee Marvil, Ryan Marvil, Jaime Marvil, Lane Ableley, Cam Fisher, Todd Lyons, and Derrick Harrington. The setting of my book is in Westchester, NY at Massie’s house and Dylan’s house (mainly where more important things happened). The main problem in this book (which is the last book of the series The Clique) is that Massie (the alpha of The Pretty Committee)became poor because her father lost his job but then she became rich again (her dad got a new better job) but her dad’s new job is in ENGLAND! Massie was sad when she knew she was poor but learned to live with it until she went home and her parents tell her that they’re rich and they’re moving into a castle in England. Massie and The Pretty Committee spent most of their New Year’s Yve (name of the party they were at) crying because of the situation.
    I can honestly relate to this because when I used to go to my old school my best friend Kimberly was moving and I was sooo sad she was like my sister so the fact that she was moving out of state really hurt me and her as friends. We don’t talk anymore because we lost contact we didn’t have phones then (we were too young), no facebook, twitter, or skype. Now since Massie is moving to England they’re going to take the Pretty Committee international! I love this book because of everything about it I read the whole series and I don’t regret reading either one of the books. If you love fashion, drama, you’re a girl, or a guy who tries to read books from a girl’s point of view should seriously read this book because I guarantee you’ll LOVE this book just like I did!

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  24. I read “The Lightning Thief” over spring break. It is about a boy named Percy Jackson who is the son of Poseidon. Poseidon is the Greek god of water. The author is Rick Riordan. The series is Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
    This is a great book and series. I recommend this book to anyone who likes Greek Myths. I just thought I would read it since almost everyone read it.

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