Book Review: Edgar and Ellen Under Town by Charles Ogden

Reading level: Ages 9-12 

Hardcover: 160 pages

Publisher: Aladdin (February 28, 2006)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1416914129

ISBN-13: 978-1416914129

Buy the book: Amazon 

Visit the site: Edgar & Ellen 

A towering crisis interrupts the twins' usual mayhem: The mayor is about to build his monstrous Knightlorian Hotel right next door! But as they try to halt construction, Edgar and Ellen encounter a new foe -- an unknown prankster who's stealing their thunder (and their best schemes)! To stop the rash of copycat capers the twins must descend into the sewers, but what they discover there is stranger than anything they could have imagined. A mysterious journal, a secret laboratory, a villain's hideaway -- there's a lot more than sewage running beneath Nod's Limbs!

This book was fun to read. It was really good, I enjoyed it a lot! It was pretty short and I understood the story. Edgar and Ellen have fun together and I like their creepy pranks. Pranks! Love them! Any kid would enjoy this book. Boys or Girls. All of the other Edgar and Ellen books are just as good, too. Go to the website, there are some cool games and stuff. My brother says the books are as good as
The Series of Unfortunate Events.

Sinbad Movie Review

Buy The Movie: Amazon.com

My summary:

Sinbad is a pirate and his best friend is a prince. When monsters attack the prince's ship while Sinbad is trying to RAID him they kill the monster and like old times they are friends again. Sinbad gets dragged under the water by one of the monsters tentacles and meets the goddess of chaos and she tells him if he gets the book of peace for her she would make him filthy rich. He agrees and one night he is at a party that his best friend, the prince, was having when the goddess of chaos betrays him. She steels the book of peace and turns into Sinbad to steel it! He is blamed for steeling the book of peace and they throw him in jail. His friend takes his place for Sinbad to find the book and get it back in three days. If Sinbad fails, his friend will be beheaded. If Sinbad fails to get the book but comes back anyway Sinbad will be beheaded. He stets of on a adventure finding his friend's girlfriend below deck and she comes with him on this exciting adventure. Find out more by WATCHING it.

I loved this movie. I liked it because Sinbad is a pirate and he is funny and likes taking risks and never thinks of everything. I also liked it because it was cute and scary at some parts. I liked the voices and the people. SO all in all it might be old but, it is great fun and i think they should make a new one. (F.Y.I i did not get the description on Amazon i wrote it!) Please watch this it is amazing!

Book Review: The Fossil Hunter of Syndey Mines by Jo Ann Yard

Reading level: Ages 9-12
Paperback: 176 pages
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing (October 1, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1551097605
ISBN-13: 978-1551097602
 Buy the book: Amazon

Thirteen-year-old Grace already has too much going on—grieving over her father's mysterious death, dealing with her distraught mother's erratic parenting, and evading her creepy nosy neighbor, Mr. Stuckless, just for starters. She and her friends Fred, Mai Ling, and Jeeter like to get away from it all by hunting for fossils near their secret hideaway, the abandoned mine they've nicknamed The Black Hole. But when Grace receives a strange note regarding her father's death, it sets off a chain of events that sees Grace and her friends turning into detectives to solve the mystery behind his suspicious disappearance. As the clues and suspects start piling up and the investigation becomes more and more dangerous, Grace and her friends find themselves racing against time through treacherous sinkholes and abandoned mine shafts to figure out what really happened to her father.

Review

This book was really interesting. I like mysteries and this was a great mystery. The author did a good job making sure I didn't discover the truth before I needed to. Jeeter was my favorite character, he was funny and cool. Grace's friends made the story more fun, with all their different personalities and each one had a great character. You will enjoy this mystery novel. The clues dropped along the way and events that took place were crazy cool. Even though the main character is a girl, I think boys will enjoy it very much!

A Measure of Disorder by Alan Tucker

Reading level: Ages 9-12
Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: MAD Design, Inc. (April 30, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0982686412
ISBN-13: 978-0982686416
Buy the book: A Measure Of Disorder
Visit Alan Tucker's site!

Book One of the Mother Earth Series...

High school will be a breeze for Jenni Kershaw - if she lives long enough to enroll, that is. Jenni's ordinary, eighth grade life becomes a thing of the past when her science class goes on a field trip. Armed with only their notebooks, MP3 players, and wits, Jenni and her classmates are unknowingly transported to another world. There they encounter amazing creatures, some of which think a kid shish-kebab would be a tasty treat. But they soon find the greatest dangers they face may come from themselves ... Follow Jenni and her class on their extraordinary adventures in their fight to discover who - and what - they really are.

So what did I think about the book? 

First going into this book, I didn't have very high hopes. Occasionally I will judge a book by it's cover. This book's cover art is not the best I had ever seen. Then I started to read the book. The beginning was nothing very special, but slowly it started to progress until... I was hooked! I could hardly put this book down. Reading Teen followers, you will have your doubts before reading this book. DON'T. It is WELL written, well thought out, and the whole concept is completely insane. Which makes for one great fantasy book. In my opinion... the more insane the book, the better fantasy it makes! This amazing book by Alan Tucker makes you want for these insane things to happen, things that would never really be possible. Hence the word fantasy. You will so know what I'm talking about when you read it.

I never have even heard of this book if the author Alan Tucker hadn't sent me a copy. He was so freakin' cool to have taken the time to send me one. Thanks dude! At the current moment it needs more publicity. This book has earned it. I am positive that there are hundreds, thousands of books that need to be read because their great. But I can only read so many books. And, yes, most of the books that I read, I only read because I hear of that book from a friend or family member and now an author ( I'm moving up ). I wish that good books like this were more recognized. This review is the best thing that I can do to achieve some publicity for this book.

This is a great book and I can't wait until the sequel comes out. I will be highly anticipating it and can only hope that it is as good as the first.

- Austin
"Hey all you people who read for fun, U R COOL"

* A word to the parents there was only one H*** word and some violence, not graphic.

Magyk by: Angie Sage

Reading level: Ages 9-12
Paperback: 608 pages
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books; First Harper Trophy Edition edition (March 14, 2006)
Buy The Book: Amazon

Ten years ago, Septimus Heap died in infancy. And on the same day, his father Silas Heap found a baby girl, and was instructed by the new ExtraOrdinary Wizard Marcia to raise her as his own. Ten years later, Marcia reveals that the girl Jenna is actually the future queen of that land. But she's in danger, and now a spy has found out where the girl lives.


Marcia tries to spirit Jenna to safety, but now nowhere is safe -- an Assassin, a Hunter, and the apprentice to an evil wizard are sent after them. Now Marcia, Silas, Jenna, the ghost of the wizard Alther, and a mysterious young boy are on the run. But not everyone is as they seem, and a boy claiming to be Septimus Heap may not be him at all...

In this book Silas Heap and his wife Sara Heap have 6 boys. When the7th son of the7th son is born he is claimed dead my a midwife. That same night when Silas is coming back to the castle with some herbs for Sara he finds a bundle on the ground that turns out to be a baby girl with violet eyes. He rushes back to find the midwife running out yelling "He's dead!" He saw that she was holding Septimus. They decided to name the baby girl Jenna. Ten years later Jenna's tenth birth day is there and Marcia Overstrand the ExtraOrdinary wizard turns up and tells them that Jenna is a princess! She takes Jenna and tries to hide but they can't stay safe for very long.

I LOVED THIS BOOK! I loved it 'cause the characters where AMAZING, the places they went were AMAZING, the creatures were AMAZING. My favorite character is: Marcia Overstrand. She is really good with magyk and she is cool! My favorite creature is: It is the ___.........Wait can't tell you that never mind :)!  Well my 2nd favorite creature is: The bogart! Well my grandmother is reading this book and she also enjoyed it! I would think EVERYONE should read this book cause it is AMAZING! 

I loved the reader! There are SO many good readers i forgot how many i like! So i don't know what place this reader is in. Listen to this book too, it has a good reader! Alther's name sounds like Alphaa so remember it is Alther!

Holes Movie Review

• Actors:
 Shia LaBeouf as Stanley, Sigourney Weaver, Jon Voight, Tim Blake Nelson, Khleo Thomas as Zero

• Directors:
 Andrew Davis

Stanley Yelnats IV (Shia LaBouf), is a hard-luck boy, not surprising seeing his great-great grandpa had a curse laid on him for eternity by Madam Zeroni (Eartha Kitt). The Yelnats have had a habit of failure ever since. Stanley's Dad, (Henry Winkler) is working (unsuccessfully, of course) on inventing a perfect shoe-deodorizer. Ironically, Stanley is falsely arrested for stealing a great athlete's shoes. He is given a choice of jail or Camp Green Lake. Stanley innocently notes he's never been to camp before so---you just know This Was Not A Good Choice. Camp Green Lake is on a parched and barren desert. The lake disappeared a century before. Stanley is indoctrinated by down-and-dirty bad Mr. Sir (Jon Voight) who informs Stanley his days will be spent digging 5' x 5' holes to build "character" and any misstep will bring him to the Warden's (Sigourney Weaver) attention, a lady who coats her nails with rattlesnake venom. His fellow inmates who like to be known as X-Ray, Armpit, ZigZag and Magnet greet Stanley with hazing and hard times. His only true ally is tiny little Zero (Khleo Castro) who wants Stanley to teach him to read. The day-in-day-out work is filthy, backbreaking and endless. But Stanley is learning some secrets that might permit him to break the age-old curse of the Yelnats.

After I read the book Holes by Louis Sachar, I just had to go out and get the movie.  I really liked the movie.  They actually went to Texas and made the movie there, and I thought that was really good.  The actors were great.  Things in the movie weren't exactly like the book, of course.  In the book, Stanley is overweight and gets in shape over time.  They couldn't do that in the movie, so they just picked someone they thought looked like a "young Tom Hanks".

They picked Shia LaBeouf.  What do you think?  I thought he did a really good job.  I think if Stanley could speak for himself, he's say it was a great job!

There's nothing I would change about the movie.  All of the important parts are there, and all of the actors did a good job.

I did like the book better than the movie, but I usually do.  The movie did have a couple of swears in it that the book didn't have, and I wish those weren't there.  But overall I think this was a great movie that people of all ages (well, maybe not little kids....but like 8 and up) will love!

GoddessGirls Artemis the brave By: Suzanne Williams

Reading level: Ages 7-10
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Aladdin; Original edition (December 7, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1416982744
ISBN-13: 978-1416982746

Naturally everyone at Mount Olympus Academy thought Artemis was brave simply because she was an excellent archer and the "goddess of the hunt," but if they could read her mind when they were in the Forest of the Beasts on a Beast-ology assignment for Professor Ladon, they'd think otherwise. She could almost hear them now: "My, godness, we never knew Artemis was such a wuss." Athena, Aphrodite, and Persephone were counting on her to finish off the Geryon, a "one-headed, two-armed, three-bodied, four-winged, six-legged beast." She'd finished off two other nasty creatures, a she-dragon and a goat-headed Chimera, but there would be a whole lot of shrieking before they'd get an A from Ladon on this one. "Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah." The four best goddess-girlfriends were going to have their work cut out for them if they were going to destroy that "big green patoot" before the next class.

My Review

I really like the first part of the book, It was really good. I loved how in the first part they were fighting! And I loved Athena's character. I really was excited to read about Athena. ♥ I liked Artemis also, She was really good at fighting. I really liked Chapter 3, it was my favorite part of the book. I can't tell you what happens in chapter 3, you're going to have to believe me on thisone. You really need to read this book, it is really good: There is some fighting and stuff like that! I love this series, it is such a great series for girls.

We ♥ Our Followers! :)

 

Ivy and Bean Break the Fossil Record by Annie Barrows

Reading level: Ages 7-10

Paperback: 124 pages 

Publisher: Chronicle Books (December 20, 2007)

Language: English 

ISBN-10: 081186250X 

ISBN-13: 978-0811862509  

 

 

Rambunctious second-grader Bean and her more conservative friend, Ivy, are back for another easy-chapter-book adventure. This time, a book of world records gets the class thinking of feats they can accomplish. Bean unsuccessfully (and hilariously) tries to break some records, then decides to be the youngest person to discover dinosaur bones and starts digging in the backyard. Ivy has read a book about Mary Anning, who found a dinosaur skeleton at the age of 12. 

My Review

 

I really liked the book and my favorite part is, the first part. I really liked the third-chapter, It was funny and my favorite character had to be Bean. I ♥ Bean, she is really funny. And I liked Ivy, she was funny too. I want to read the fourth one, it looks really good. My favorite book of Ivy and Bean has to be the second one.

I ♥ this book, it was really good! Read it! :)

We ♥ our followers!

 

Book Review: Half-Minute Horrors by Susan Rich

Reading level: Ages 9-12

Hardcover: 160 pages

Publisher: HarperCollins (August 25, 2009)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0061833797

How scared can you get in only 30 seconds? Dare to find out with Half-Minute Horrors, a collection of deliciously terrifying short short tales and creepy illustrations by an exceptional selection of writers and illustrators, including bestselling talents Lemony Snicket, James Patterson, Neil Gaiman, R.L.Stine, Faye Kellerman, Holly Black, Melissa Marr, Margaret Atwood, Jon Scieszka, Brett Helquist, and many more. With royalties benefiting First Book, a not-for-profit organization that brings books to children in need, this is an anthology worth devouring. So grab a flashlight, set the timer, and get ready for instant chills!

My Review

One day, I was at the library with a friend and I saw this book on the shelf. Just laying there, waiting to be picked up. And, upon picking it up, there was absolutely no contemplation on whether or not I should read it. This is probably the best short story book I've read since Jon Scieszca's Guys Write for Guys Read, which I recommend to anyone of the male category. It took one night to read and, it was so good that I put off eating dinner for a whole five minutes before putting it down. And, it take's a lot for me to not want to eat, even for a short time.

This book was pure entertainment. I had a lot of fun reading it, not putting it down (Except for dinner) until I was finished. Some of the short stories were creepy, some hilarious, some you had to think about it for a while before you understood it's creepiness or hilarity. After the book was finished, I would keep going back to read a story here and there that I couldn't get out of my head. And after I returned it to the library, there were certain stories that I kept thinking that would have been so good in novel form.

A lot of my favorite authors contributed to this book. Joseph Delaney, Lemony Snicket, Pseudonymous Bosch, Jon Scieszka. It was a lot of fun a read things that weren't related to their other works (with the exception of Mr. Delaney) and that were sometimes written in complete different styles as their novels.

I greatly liked this book and, in case you guys haven't noticed yet, I obviously have a better opinion in books then anyone else here (Yeah, I know, I'm pretty awesome) so follow my advice. Read this book. It's pretty good.

• Sexual Content - none
• Violence - moderate. Some just implied.
• Profanity - none

Redwall Author Brian Jacques Remembered...

On Febuary 5, 2011, Brian Jacques, author of the Redwall series, passed away.

Brian Jacques books really helped me with reading. The first series I really loved was Harry Potter. And the second was Redwall. I have had the great honor of reading Jacques books, and to this day they remain some of my favorites. He was truly a great author who wrote books that will be remembered and read for ages to come.

A Roman Catholic, Jacques lived in Liverpool, England. He had a wife, two sons, and a granddaughter.

May you rest in peace Brian Jacques, you will truly be missed.


- Austin

Holes By Louis Sachar

Reading level: Ages 9-12
Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR); 1st edition (September 2, 2008)
Buy the book: Amazon

"If you take a bad boy and make him dig a hole every day in the hot sun, it will turn him into a good boy." Such is the reigning philosophy at Camp Green Lake, a juvenile detention facility where there is no lake, and there are no happy campers. In place of what used to be "the largest lake in Texas" is now a dry, flat, sunburned wasteland, pocked with countless identical holes dug by boys improving their character. Stanley Yelnats, of palindromic name and ill-fated pedigree, has landed at Camp Green Lake because it seemed a better option than jail. No matter that his conviction was all a case of mistaken identity, the Yelnats family has become accustomed to a long history of bad luck, thanks to their "no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather!" Despite his innocence, Stanley is quickly enmeshed in the Camp Green Lake routine: rising before dawn to dig a hole five feet deep and five feet in diameter; learning how to get along with the Lord of the Flies-styled pack of boys in Group D; and fearing the warden, who paints her fingernails with rattlesnake venom. But when Stanley realizes that the boys may not just be digging to build character--that in fact the warden is seeking something specific--the plot gets as thick as the irony.

In this book Stanley goes to camp Green Lake for committing a crime he did not do! He went to camp Green Lake to become good :) and to dig holes :(.  At Camp Green Lake, there is no lake....no water at all!  Stanley becomes "the cave man" and he becomes part of group D's little group that they all have nick-names for each other, like Barf Bag and Squid. Then one day Stanley finds a gold nail polish lid in the dirt and he sees that is says: K. B.  and he think it belonged to Kissing-Kate-Barlow, a famous out-law! He has to find out, and he wants to know if that spot was the spot where his great grandfather was robbed by Kissing-Kate-Barlow.

I listened to this on audio and I liked the reader a lot! He's probably my 5th favorite haha!  The reader is Kerry Beyer (IT'S A BOY!) He did a lot of voices and they were really good!

I liked this book and thought is was a little weird because they had to dig holes and that Stanley was so big but he did not defend himself at all even when kids smaller then him beat him up. I liked the book and the way it would go back in time to kissing-Kate-Barlow was still a school teacher and good and nice. I also liked how Stanley found everything while the other boys got dirt. I think Zero is my 1st favorite character.  Zero does not talk much and he only becomes interesting at the end.  My 2nd Kissing-Kate-Barlow 3rd is the warden. GO KISSING-KATE-BARLOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WAHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!YEAH THIS IS WHAT I"M TALKING ABOUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Judy Moody is Getting a Movie Deal!

According to Variety, Relativity has acquired rights to "Judy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer."

Directed by John Schultz ("Aliens in the Attic"), "Judy" stars Aussie thesp Jordana Beatty ("Superman Returns") as the titular Judy Moody alongside Heather Graham as her aunt as the third-grader sets out to have the most thrilling summer of her life.

The script, penned by Kathy Waugh and Megan McDonald, is based on the characters in McDonald's nine-title children's book series, published by Candlewick Press with over 13 million copies in print in 23 languages.-Variety

 I haven't read this Judy Moody book yet, but i think i will have to now!  I did read Judy Moody was in a Mood (review) and i liked it a lot.  Here's a picture of Jordana Beatty:

I think she looks like a good Judy.  What do you think?  Are you going to go see it?

The Familiars by Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson

Reading level: Ages 9-1
Hardcover: 368 pages

Publisher: HarperCollins; 1st edition (September 7, 2010)

Website: http://thefamiliars.com/

Buy the Book: Amazon

Description:

On the run from a black magic wielding bounty hunter, Aldwyn, a wily alley cat ducks into a convenient doorway to hide. Inside, he finds himself in a shop full of unusual animals with unusual talents. They are familiars, animal helpers to witches and wizards who are waiting to be chosen by a person who will become their loyal. When Jack, an 11-year-old apprentice wizard chooses Aldwyn, the cat decides to take advantage of the opportunity to escape the bounty hunter - a decision that changes his life dramatically. Outside the gates of the city where he has lived for as long as he can remember, Aldwyn begins to settle into his new life, growing closer to Jack, who studies with two other apprentices, Marianne and Dalton. He also learns more about familiars from Marianne's familiar Gilbert, a red-eyed tree frog and Dalton's familiar, Skylar, a blue jay. Before he can get too comfortable, though, Jack, Marianne and Dalton are stolen away by an evil queen who plans to kill them. Aldwyn, Gilbert and Skylar resolve to rescue their loyals and set off on a perilous journey to do so.In this book Aldwyn is a every day alley cat. When he is doing his trying to steal a fish from the fish seller he is caught by the most dangerousness bounty hunter for animals he is chased into a wizards animals shop he is picked by a boy by the name is Jack. He is brought to a cottage named Stone Runlet he gets more and more attached to Jack and he grows to get used to Stone Runlet with Jack's other companions, Jack'd sister Marianne and her familiar Gilbert the friendly the other boy Dalton and his familiar the know-it-all blue jay Skylar, and the wizard teacher Kalstaff. Then one night the queen Loranella comes and kills Kalstaff and captures Jack, Marianne, and Dalton. The the three familiars, Aldwyn Skylar and Gilbert must save there loyal's as they call them Aldwyn hiding the fact that he had no powers at all!

I liked this book. My favorite character was probably Marianne. She kept pulling pranks on Jack and Dalton. I took the test on the website and it said:

You’re a Beyonder. You better find yourself a familiar who can breathe fire or move objects with their mind. Chances are there’s a lot of danger in your future.

Find your familiar at: http://thefamiliars.com/quiz.php . I would either like a pocket dragon or a Maidenmere cat! I liked this book because it was very interesting and adventurous and i love adventure. I liked that even though Aldwyn had no powers he was a BIG help. I loved it because they were animals and i LOVE animals ! i really LOVE cats and since Aldwyn is a cat i LOVED this book even MORE! Thank you Harper Collins publishers for this book! P.S I got it on my B-Day so that was a great present!

Reagan mysteriously turned into an elf!