Walking Home
By Eric Walters What would it feel like if everything was taken away from you? Thirteen -year -old Muchoki, his younger sister Jata and their mother set off on a journey that they never would have expected. The family can hardly recognize what has become of their lives. Only weeks ago they lived in a scurrying Kenyan village, managing their store, and going to school, but suddenly political violence has destroyed their beloved home and has forced them to flee. After nights of fighting for their lives, the small family finds themselves in an overcrowded refugee camp. By day, they try to fend off boredom and hunger. By night, their worst fears about the future. But that’s not the worst, after their mother dies of malaria, Muchoki and Jata are about to be separated. Now being the leader of the family, Muchoki decides to sneak his sister out of the camp to embark on a journey to find their last remaining family. Equipped with only a water container, little food and two blankets, the two siblings undertake an almost impossible journey: to walk over a hundred miles across war-torn Kenya. Muchoki and his sister must not only avoid wrong turns along the way, but famine, murderous tribesmen and hungry predators. Even the longest of journeys must begin with just one step – and a bit of hope -Eric Walters. Walking home is set in the wild and slums of Kenya. It is written from the first person point of view, you will be reading this book as if you are Muchoki. In the summer of 2011, Eric Walters, along with four other Canadians and four orphans from The Creation of Hope (his program in Kenya) embarked on a journey in the “footsteps” of Muchoki and Jata to simply experience their hardships throughout their journey to find home. Throughout the novel there are symbols that invite the reader to visit www.ericwalterswalkinghome.com to discover video clips, audio readings of sections of the book, photographs, author commentary, bonus chapters, referenced research articles about aspects of the journey and subjects in the novel, information about the four orphans who were part of the walk, and to learn about the writing/editing process of crafting a novel. Each copy of Walking Home that is bought in Canada, $1.30 will be donated to The Creation of Hope. Personally, I thought this novel was extremely well written. Eric Walters perfectly captured each emotion and hardship that this family faced. I can’t even begin to imagine how it felt. Knowing that Mr. Walters himself walked in the “footsteps” of Muchoki and Jata is unbelievable. I don’t think any other author has that courage. The few things that I didn’t enjoy about this book are that I thought it kept trailing on; I thought the chapter would never end! I understand that when writing a novel the author must put a lot of detail, but there’s a lot then there’s too much! I also found that in some chapters it became almost choppy; I would start to get really into a chapter then it would cut off and go in a different direction. I would rate this book a 6/10 simply because of the emotion and thought that was put in and because of the few areas that I didn’t enjoy very much. I would recommend this book for grades 6 through 9; for readers who enjoy adventure, risk, and simply a loving story for inspiration. While reading this novel I learned that with hope and courage we can accomplish anything.
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When Santa Was a Baby
Written By: Linda Bailey & Genevieve Godbout When Santa Was a Baby was a terrific book, From the moment his parents saw him and heard his booming voice and saw that he only liked red his mom though he would be a firefighter and his dad though he would be a scientist.This book is about Santa growing up and will explain why Santa only wear's red, why Santa says ''Ho Ho Ho'' and why he has elves and reindeer. This book also tells you about Santa when he was a toddler, teenager and adult, and what his parents thought of him and if they supported him through his journey on becoming Santa Claus. I had so much fun reading this book because it was so well written by the authors. This book had me laughing so hard at one point that I was almost crying. In my opinion it's a really good book for all age's but more for kids ten and under. It would be a perfect book for kid's just learning to read because there isn't very much writing which makes it perfect for them. Read the book now too find out what Santas first Christmas was like. Book Review: We Are All Made of Molecules
Stewart is a geeky 13-year-old boy who loves science and his cat Schrödinger. After his mom died, Stewart and his dad, Leonard, moved to his dad’s girlfriend’s house on Vancouver Island. Ashley, the girlfriend’s daughter, can’t get over the fact that her mom and dad divorced because her dad is gay, and now she is stuck with Leonard and his nerdy son living in her house with her mom. Stewart is 89.9 percent happy and Ashley is 110 percent horrified. Ashley and Spewart, as Ashley likes to call him, are 100 percent different. Ashley is super popular. Stewart is “gifted”. She is really mean and he is super friendly. She is not very smart and he loves school. Ashley and Stewart never get along, but after one awful night of mayhem and chaos, they became great teammates and even better friends. I loved We Are All Made of Molecules from beginning to end. I could not put it down! It is absolutely perfect for grades 7 and up because it is a mature book but it’s also funny. It has almost everything for everyone: romance, mystery, science and so much more. When you are reading this novel, you are always going to want to know what happens next! It is the kind of book you can read over and over again. It is captivating and exciting. I would have to say this is one of my all-time favorite books. When reading this book you fall in love with the characters and you would hate to hear anything bad had happened to them. If you love to get a thrill while reading, We Are All Made of Molecules is perfect for you! In conclusion this is a terrific novel and you will not regret reading it. Willow book review: Audrey(Cow)
by: Dan Ber-el This book is about a cow named Audrey, who lives on a farm called Bittersweet Farm. Audrey is a Charolais cow and her best friend is a dog named Eddie. After Audrey's mom gets sent to a place called Abbots War and never returns, she is very upset and has her mind set on finding a way to not also be sent. Roy the horse and Max, Eddie's father, tell Audrey that to avoid Abbots War she can't become fat or get out of the ordinary. So Audrey started watching her weight until she became boney, and Glenn the farmer called the doctor to see what was wrong. That was creating suspicions, so she started to eat normal again and not worry about Abbots War. Audrey's life was normal for about a year until one day Roy informed her that in three days she was going to be sent to Abbots War. She started planning an escape, she got Buster the pig to help with her plan because he was a real mastermind. The first part of the plan was to stab a hole into a tire on the transport truck; so it would pull over next to a forest, but they needed a distraction to do so. They asked the sheep if they could do it and after hours the they said they would. Will Audrey make it to the forest? Will she survive? And find new friends? Or does the plan fail? Read the book to find out. I thought that this was a wonderful book. I loved how the book was written in the different perspectives of all the characters and had really funny personalities for each one. I also liked how this book teaches you how each animal lives, it also teaches you some farm life, parts or tools. I recommend this book for ages 8-13, for parents to read to their young ones and people who live on farms. Kyle Goes Alone- Book Review
Written By: Jan Thornhill Illustrated By: Ashley Barron Review By Maryn S. Kyle is a sloth. As you probably already know sloths are very slow. Kyle has to "go" but he doesn't want to "go" alone; he's never gone alone before. His mom always went with him but not this time. This time Kyle needs to learn to grow up and be a big sloth. On the way down the tree that he lives in, Kyle gets very scared and nervous but with the help of the other animals in the forest, he overcomes his fears and continues down the tree. I really enjoyed reading this book. It's a good way to show kids that we can be independent and don't always need our parents at our sides. I really thought that the author did a good job on the sentence structure and it's flow. I loved the illustrations by Ashley Barron, they were really creative and helped me visualize the storyline. I thought they really topped the book off. Kyle Goes Alone is an all around great book. The vocabulary is best suited for young readers in grades K-4 . Do you think Kyle will make it to the forest floor in time? To find out read Kyle Goes Alone by Jan Thornhill. Finding Winnie
Author: Lindsay Mattick Finding Winnie is a book about the world's most famous bear, Winnie the Pooh, before he was a cartoon. This story tells how Winnie was bought by Harry Coleborn and then served in World War 1.Winnie was loved by all the solders and then later found his new best friend Christopher Robins which led to the animated tv show, Winnie the Pooh in my opinion Finding Winnie is actually a really good book because when I was younger I used to watch the cartoon of Winnie the Pooh and it follows the true events of Winnie. Finding Winnie is a great book for the ages 5-7 because they might not know the real story of Winnie Pooh and how Winnie met his two friends Harry Coleborn and Christopher Robins after World war 1 and some of the stories of Winnie in World War 1. This book also talks about the family of Harry Coleborn and how The author named her first son Cole after Harry. That is why I think people would enjoy this book, as it tells us the story of how Winnie the Pooh turned into the animated show that a lot of kids watch and they see the story of Winnie and how he grew up to the bear we all know and ,love Winnie the pooh. The Gospel Truth
By Caroline Pignat The year is 1858, Phoebe is a mute slave girl working in the house of the owner of a Virginia tobacco plantation. All is somewhat calm, until Doctor Bergman shows up, and claims he's here to watch and illustrate birds. After he starts watching birds with only Phoebe (as opposed to earlier, when he's watching birds with both Phoebe and Miss Tessa), she can't help but think something's going on, and wonders if she can even trust this man at all. Canadian author, Caroline Pignat, is back at it with amazing storytelling, and unique storybuilding. With each chapter being in the point of view with different characters, it certainly makes it more interesting. It's similar in writing to her past novel, Egghead, and probably her other past novels too, but different at the same time. If you like her work and are interested in the depressing past of slavery, you'll definitely love this book or at least find it interesting. The characters feel like real people, and it feels like you're actually there watching this miraculous story unfold. I would rate Caroline Pignat's novels five stars out of five, due to her unique storytelling ability, her lifelike characters, and her inspiring imagination. I'd also recommend ages 13 and up for this novel, due to some more graphic and adult scenes. The Gospel Truth is one of her novels I can't recommend enough, I was attached to this book, I couldn't take my eyes off the pages. So, get out there and check out The Gospel Truth, or at least another one of Caroline Pignat's Novels for yourself. The Dogs by Allan Stratton
When I was reading "The Dogs" by Allan Stratton the main character Cameron seems like a normal boy but the truth about him is that he has moved 4 times since his mom left his dad. Later his dad finds him again and they are going to move to a farmhouse. When Cameron starts going to school a boy tells him he lives in a home where a man was killed by his dogs and asks him if he hears the dogs. He responds in saying "what dogs?". Later on, Cameron sees someone out his window and believes it is his dad but he thinks he was just seeing things and after he realizes he actually saw a boy. After this his neighbor Mr.Sinclair comes over to move some junk out of the house from the previous owners, then he notices someone is in his room and assumes it is Mr.Sinclair. After , when he goes to check out the basement, he sees pictures and assumes it was the previous owners and their kid, but he notices a picture of a pack of dogs ripping someone or something apart. This book is a constant page turner and I would recommend it to people who like mystery. I would recommend this book to kids in grades 7 and 8. The vocabulary in this book is easy enough. I would not recommend this book to people who are scared of ghosts and murder. I liked the book for its constant suspense of what is going to happen next and the mystery of what happened at his house and what the pictures meant. Speechless by Jennifer Mook-Sang
Everyone in school has had to do an oral speech presentation. Whether it be concours or a project we've all done one. But for the main character, Jelly he voluntarily signs up for a school wide oral presentation. Jelly wants to win the presentation but one thing stands in his way... Victoria. Speechless is about a kid named Joe, or Jelly which is his nickname. He signs up for a school wide speech competition to win a new tablet. He is determined to win the speech contest but now he has competition and that competition was Victoria. Victoria is the smartest girl in school so Jelly is very discouraged and doesn’t think that he can win the speech contest. His friend PB helps him out with his speech and then he presents it to the class. Read Speechless to find out what happens next! I really liked the Speechless book, written by Jennifer Mook-Sang. When I first started reading it I didn’t like it too much, but as I started reading more of it I couldn’t stop reading it. I like the story of the book and the characters. The book is also funny at times and is really entertaining. I like the clever nicknames that the author gives some of the characters and the meanings behind them. I also like how parts in the book that don’t see important to the story whatsoever, turn out to be really important in the end towards the whole story of the book. I also like how the author words things in the book differently, it adds a little more uniqueness to the book and make it all the more better. I would definitely recommend Speechless to anyone grades 5-8, as it appeals to that audience with the characters and themes in the book. Overall it was a really good book and it was a good read and worth my time! MASTERMINDS by Gordan Korman
"There's something screwy going on in that town..." Imagine living in the perfect town, no homelessness, no poverty, no crime. Then imagine that it was all a lie. This is what 13 year old Eli Frieden, resident of Serenity, New Mexico finds out in MasterMinds, a book by Gordon Korman. You should definitely read MasterMinds by Gordon Korman. Once I started reading this fantastic book, I simply couldn’t put it down! This book has suspense, action, intensity and a plot that will keep you reading nonstop. When the shocking truth is revealed, will the kids be able to go against all odds in an attempt at safety? Characters Eli, Hector, Malik and Tori embark on an epic adventure that will test their skills and limits. This book is recommended for grades 4 to 6 but I would say that older readers would definitely enjoy this book as well because it is so interesting and will want you to keep on reading to find out what happens next. I really liked this book because it kept you on the edge of your seat for the whole story. The story was well planned and had a great surprise ending. Will they get caught? Will they survive? Read MAsterMinds to find out. |
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