This is the 2nd version of this story I've read by Katherine Applegate (as I came to this story via the picture book version she wrote: "Ivan: the Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla"). That this could really have happened breaks my heart. And yet, I'm not surprised.Beyond the tr...
This gets four stars for being a good book for young boys who are reluctant readers.It gets two stars because it is of rather low quality. Not much happens other than some kids get glued to chairs. He glues them to their chairs because they keep getting up and he wants to help the teacher. He ...
This is a very dear story that covers many issues of loss, love, friendship, and overcoming the worst. The writing style of this book is unlike any I have read before, children's or otherwise. It is simple, but since it is told in the perspective of a gorilla, simple works well. I was put off at ...
Frankly, of all the YA sci-fi I read when I belonged to that demographic, I think that Animorphs was the one that held me the most. The depth in the books grew with each entry in the series, and as things went on, you began to realize that K.A. Applegate was teaching us a very important lesson -...
I think the serious was good. It has adventure and fright, yet it has a soft side. I read it when I was 10 and was interested in the first 5. but then it started a sequence. It was the same thing almost every book. So it became a light read for me, for when I had nothing better to read. It is a l...
Sharing Sam is a very sad love story about a complicated love triangle. Allision has fallen hard for mysterious bad boy Sam, but at the same time her bestfriend Izzy has fallen in love with him too. At first Sam shared the same feelings for Allison, but then everyone was in a shocker when Izzy fi...
This book kills me. And not in the good "oh my good i love it!" way. Like i cannot stand this book. I just thinks so much is wrong with this story. The main character, Alison, falls for a boy named Sam. She keeps it a secret from her best friend, Isabella, but when they find out Isabella is going...
I really loved it. It's about this girl named Alison Chapman who meets a boy named Sam Cody who goes to school with her. She has a close friend named Cates Lopez, who has a brain tumor. She has a few months to live and she has fallen in love with Sam. So Alison decides to share Sam, but it is ris...
I bought this as a Christmas gift to my kids, ages 6 and 11. On the inside cover I wrote the story I've told them many times of seeing Ivan at the B&I. I'll never forget how it felt to stand by a window peering in at him only to have him run by and slam the window as hard as he could and run off ...
This was the last installment in this series. It was a very fast book to read and I liked the way it wrapped things up.Summer is now going to that Carlson school and is finishing up her first semester. She is living w/ Marquez and Diana, who has been writing to Seth and he'll be visiting her at C...
Tobias book! Cheer up, emo bird. I was really into him in the show (who wasn't?), and of course I was deeply into the OTP -- it gets gutting later, and there are already hints of it right here at the start, I forgot how early they set it up -- but he was never actually my favourite character.I lo...
Started reading Animorphs 'cause I wanted to see if it was stupid. Boy was I ever wrong. Kids are fighting against mind-stealing aliens in this incredibly spooky and realistic-sounding character-oriented saga. In the first book they figure out what the circumstances of the invasion are and are gi...
Marco never wanted to be an Animorph. He never wanted the ability to change into any animal he touches. He just wants to chill. Whatever happens, happens.
The second Animorphs book is narrated by Rachel, who was one of my favourite characters when I was younger. I'm not sure how much I buy all her protestations that it's what's in your head that matters or whatever, for the characterisation of a pretty teenage girl who doesn't even realise her seco...
The Alien represents the end of the First Age of Animorphs. It is Ax’s first time as narrator, and so with this book, all of the six Animorphs have had a chance to tell their story. As with the introductions to each of the human Animorphs, this book lets us hear in Ax’s own words why he is fighti...
Cassie's turn to narrate, and to find her reason to fight the Yeerks. But more than that, both her and Tobias are receiving a message in their dreams, a call for help. And it's up to Cassie to decide if that call is real, and if it is worth risking all the Animorphs' lives to find out who or ...
There are unmarked spoilers in this review. You have been warned!!!The ship holding the last remnants of the human race has finally reached a destination... Jobs wakes up from his long slumber weak. He falls asleep a couple of times before he could finally look around the place. He finds out that...
Despite the odds stacked up against them, the Remnants seem to be surviving in the Rock's harsh environment while living peacefully with the inhabitants, but this new world still has its set of problems that Billy cannot handle.
Kek comes from Africa. In America he sees snow for the first time, and feels its sting. He's never walked on ice, and he falls. He wonders if the people in this new place will be like the winter - cold and unkind.In Africa, Kek lived with his mother, father, and brother. But only he and his mothe...
6 Jump, Frog, Jump! We decided to play fetch with Goofy in the front yard. We threw lots of tennis balls. Sometimes Goofy brought them back. But mostly he just chewed them. He even got three balls in his mouth at once. He had a big, hairy clown smile. When a boy walked by with his dog, Goofy ran ...
said Emma on the bus that afternoon. “I’ll bet Hamilton is just playing hide-and-seek,” said Gus. “A really, really long game of hide-and-seek.” Some kids in the middle of the bus were throwing a football back and forth. “No throwing things!” shouted the bus driver. “Or maybe he went on a trip,” ...
music CD for the talent show. We decided that Emma would dance the mouse part for the talent show. And I would be the elephant. Because I am a talented stomper. Every chance I got, I practiced my stomping. I practiced stomping so much that Dad said maybe he would have to send my tap shoes on a lo...
“Dad! I saw the most miracle thing today!” I screamed. Dad was in the family room with Hazel, my little sister, and Goofy, my big dog. Hazel was using Goofy as a pillow. Dad was using Goofy as a footrest. They were watching a cartoon about a giraffe with a sore throat. And eating little crackers ...
I thought about the stuff I’d put in my keepsakes bag. Some photos. A spelling bee trophy. A bunch of nature books. My teddy bear. A clay statue of Crenshaw that I’d made when I was in second grade. My worn-out copy of A Hole Is To Dig. I thought about Crenshaw and the surfboard. I thought about ...
And landed here in time-out. My hair was pretty sticky when I got home. So was Hazel’s magic fortune-telling ball. I think maybe some applesauce got stuck inside of it. Because now when you ask it a question, it only has one answer: “ASK AGAIN LATER.” Hazel was awfully nice about it, though. When...
Diz’s desk. A little one and a medium one. Also there was an apple, a grape, a rock, and a quarter. Not only that, Mr. McGeely, the janitor, was high up on a ladder in a corner of the room. He was changing the long lightbulbs. Pumpkins and lightbulbs! It was going to be an amazing morning. “Class...
CAME the gravelly voice of the principal, Mr. Hardcastle. “Several announcements, if I may have everyone’s attention, please.” Zoey caught Aisha’s attention and rolled her eyes at the P.A. Homeroom lasted fifteen minutes and came just before the first lunch. By this point in the day, everyone was...
Jake saw the center move the ball back between his legs to the quarterback. Jake lunged forward, knocking Tony DeSantos aside, and began to run downfield. He ran ten paces and cut sharply left, turning to see the ball flying through the air. A good, rifled pass, a little high but within easy reac...