James P

The book I am reading right now is called the Hobbit and the author is J.R.R Tolkien and it is about a Hobbit named Bilbo that goes on an adventure and from what I have read I like it a lot. I wanted to read this book because I have watched the Lord of the Rings and also the Hobbit and the books are better than the movies. I cant wait to read more of my book because from what I have read I already think its my favorite book that I have read. But what I have read was the dwarfs are at Bilbo's house and they are talking about the misty mountains and how they are going to get there.

Ky Mehler blog

Kyle Mehler
6/21/13
Ms favuli
day 1

The book i read was the kid who only hit homers by Matt Christopher. This was a short but interesting book to read. Its about baseball and how this kid only hits home runs. At first,he tries out for his baseball team and he does a very bad job and does not make it but then this guy that only Sylvester could see came up too him and had a good conversation. The main character in this book would have to be either Sylvester or the imaginary dude that he thinks is real and everyone else should see him. This book was interesting because i like sports and its a sports book so it wasn't that bad that it was short. The man ends up the reason why he can hit so many home runs because at the end when the man disappears at the end of the book, Sylvester last game he ends up getting his first strike out.

  During the beginning of the book, that's when he was introduced to Mr baruth at the baseball fields. After that part, the book was really interesting and i did enjoy it because it was all about baseball and not something boring that dose not catch my eye and also because it was all about finding out who this guy is because no one could see him but Sylvester and about baseball and it would give specific details throughout chapters about the baseball games so i never got bored with the book. One part that i enjoyed about the book is when Sylvester went to baseball try outs not thinking he would get completely rejected. Then that man Mr baruth comes over to Sylvester and talks to him. He tells him that he wants to help him learn how to play baseball. Sylvester took his help and went to try out next try out but coach wouldn't let him but Sylvester went anyway and when they saw him bomb a home run and catch a fly ball, they reconsidered him to play on the team. Also i like the part when the coach wouldn't really let him be in the line up. He would bat 9 and play outfield every time. But then he comes up to bat and with a crack of the bat he swings and the ball goes flying out of the park. Those are my favorite parts because no one thought this kid who stunk the other day in practice bomb a home run in his first game and then from there he was doing the same thing every game. He never got struck out. I liked this book because i used to play baseball and i would enjoy a book about sports or baseball better then i would a love story or adventure story as well.

  I would recommend this book to people who either love to read and love sports books or to people who don't like to read like me and just pick a book that is short and about something i enjoy. I also recommend this book to like kids who don't maybe read to good or just interested in reading. Also if you like the author or any other sports and wanted to try a different sports book then you should read this one because its easy to read,its short for people who aren't fluent about reading and who are a slow reader. I enjoyed this book for the same reason because i don't like to read but i had to so i chose a book that looked easy and that was short so i could be successful and get it done. I enjoyed this book alot and i hope the people who chose to read this feels the same way i do about the book and hopefully can get better at reading since its a short and easy worded book. I enjoyed the book and hope you do as well.

Richy Fonseca's Book Review

Richy Fonseca
6/18/13

Book Review Of Ted & Me

       My book that I read this semester was Ted & Me by Dan Gutman. It is a book about a boy that plays baseball and has a gift. The gift is that he has the power to travel back in time by using baseball cards. So the FBI found out about him and they wanted him to go back in time and stop Pearl Harbor of every happening by finding the President of the United States in 1941. So the FBI gave him a Ted Williams card and it was made in 1941. That was Ted Williams best year because that was the year he hit .406 and that is the bests of all time. The FBI said that that was the best person to help the boy on his mission.
       I liked a lot of things about this book. One thing that I liked about the book was that it was about baseball and about Ted Williams who was on my favorite baseball a long time ago. Another thing it was cool that in the book they talked about a lot of things how Ted did before games to prepare for games. I think that was cool because I learned that the night before he cleans his bat so he can take one once of weight off his bat so he can swing faster. Another thing he did was that he did pull ups and push ups every day even if he had a game or not because he wanted to get stronger. When they were going fishing Ted taught the boy how to swing a bat on the boat. That was a good part because I loved how he taught him how to bat he did not even take a swing of a bat just from questions that the boy answered made Ted know how to teach him and told him that he was doing every thing wrong. I liked this book because I play baseball and it had a lot of useful information and had a good story to go with it.
       I recommend this book to anyone who likes baseball or any thing to do with Ted Williams. I think the age group for this book should be 11 and up because it as a good story for kids, but for any one that knows about Ted Williams they would love the book. I would rate this book 4 stars on a scale of 1-4 stars. I think that because I enjoyed reading this book and I do not like reading that much, but I did like this one. I think this book would be good for a lot of people that like any thing about or know any thing about baseball because there are not a lot a fantasy books that are about baseball and this is one of them so people should read this great book.
 

Dennis Pannetons reveiw of S.E. Hiltons Rumble Fish

Rumble Fish is a story by S.E. Hilton about a boy named Rusty James that is a hard nose gang member. He's a fourteen year old drop out that fights all the time. His one true aspiration in life is to be as feared as his older brother Motor Cycle boy. His brother wants nothing more than to abandon his tough guy role and leave his town to move to the coast to relax for the rest of his life but has an internal conflict that keeps him coming back evrytime he goes. Rusty lives with his father and brother in a rundown apartment.

I liked how this book vividly described all of the fights and connected with the reader by using extremely descriptive vocabulary. I was a little disappointed with some of the story line, not all of it made sense. Overall it was a decent book, just a few minor issues. This book reminded me of the Outsiders, S.E. Hilton wrote both books. They both are written the same way and have similar story lines. Both stories are written about gang members that get into a lot of trouble.

I give this book three out of four stars because it is a well written book but at times hard to remain focus and the transition to back in time from the beginning was not really presented as well as it should have, which made it hard to follow. I think this book is best for 13-16 year old students that enjoy reading gang related violence. I also think this book is written like any other S.E. Hilton book so anyone that really enjoys her work would find this book entertaining. I don't think this book would be enjoyable for any adult that likes mature writing styles because this book uses an abundance of various slang terms that many people, including myself might find hard to follow. In conclusion, aside from the slang and the confusing transition this book is well written and worth reading because the author is very good at expressing all ideas on paper and keeping the story line in place.

   

Brianna Serio

6/19/13

                                                                     Pretty Little Liars

The book I read was Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard. When a friend goes missing , a group of girls get a mysterious text from "A" their lives will begin to crumble. They try to figure out who this is and why "A" is doing this to them. The main characters in this book are Emily, Spencer, Hannah, and Aria.I absolutely love this book. I chose this because I watch the show and love it. I have heard the book is much different than the show; it is! I definitely recommend this to teens around 14 to 189 especially girls). I would give this 4 and a half stars because it keeps me on the edge, which makes me want to read more and more, though sometimes it dragged scenarios on. Overall I love this book and recommend teen girls to go and pick this up right now! I feel very strongly about this book. I think there is a bigger range of girl viewers, but guys would love this too! It has romance in it, suspense, mystery, and everything in between! 

Michelle Stacey

Block 4 Day 2

6-17-13

Book Review 2

Fall for Anything by Courtney Summers

Book Review

Recently I read the book Fall for Anything by Courtney Summers. This book was an amazing book. I am so happy I picked this book to read because it really kept me interested and I did not want it to ever end. In this book there was a teenage girl named Eddie Reeves. Recently her dad passed away because he committed suicide. Her dad was an artist and was always so happy so when he passed away no one knew why or what would have lead him to do this to himself. Eddie was determined to figure out why her dad did this. Ever since her husband's death, Eddie’s mom was extremely depressed. To lighten the mood in the house Eddie’s mom invited her best friend to stay with them until they got their happiness back. Since Eddie did not like like her moms friend she would leave the house and hang out with her best friend Milo. Sadly, Milos ex girlfriend came back into town and they have no time to spend with each other. Since Eddie had nowhere else to go she went to her fathers old studio. When she was there she met a boy named Culler. Since they both had the same question about her fathers death, Eddie and Culler went on a long trip to find out answers on his death. This book was amazing. I really loved it. There was nothing I would change about it. The whole thing was perfect, beginning middle and end. My favorite part was the ending because it was a complete plot twist that no one would expect. Anyone who likes teen books or dramatic book would love this book. Most teenage girls would love this book. I personally rate it as a perfect ten because it kept my interest the whole time. Fall for Anything is an amazing book with a lot of unexpected twists.

Kayla Martin  

            The book that I read this semester is called The Witch Catcher by: Mary Downing Hahn. The Witch Catcher is about a little girl named Jen whose great uncle gave his mansion to her father. So they go out and move into this huge house that has all of her father’s great uncles stuff in it and its all pretty much paintings and artifacts. Jen's father has a girlfriend her named Maura and she’s suspected to be a witch but Jens father doesn't believe her. So Jen fallows her to work one day and finds a bunch of these glass bulbs which are called WITCH CATCHER and Maura buys them off of people because legend says they used to use them back in the day to catch witches. Jen went into the Tower and found one and liked it so much that she hid it from Maura her father and everyone else. But one day Mr. A came over and that was when he hypnotized Jen and she went upstairs to get it and her cat Tinker broke it. So the next day Jen went outside and in the bush was a witch green and wearing rangy clothes. After that an amazing thing happened that changed Jens life forever….

            The one thing I liked about this book was that it was mystery based and I love mysteries. Another thing I loved the characters and how Jens personality was. I liked that Maura was so secretive. I also liked how it always made me wonder what was next and it made me jump out of my skin because of the times Jen went into the tower knowing that it could fall at any time. I didn't like how it ended it made me really mad that I won’t read another book by her ever. I didn't like how it didn't answer some of my questions and how it stated stuff but you never heard about what happened after. If you ask me its just like the harry potter books it never answers your questions but it keeps you standing and jumping out of your skin. But the movies are always good and never leave you out.

            I recommend this book to 10 and 11 year old only if they can read on their grade levels it not 13 year old  I wouldn't recommend it to anyone younger because it talks about witches and what they were back then and it might scare little ones. And it is a hard book to read because it has a lot of challenging words and that’s coming from a 9^th grader. I recommend this book to people who like mystery and like to have that feeling that you can’t stop reading it. I would give this good four stars only because its hard to read at some points and it had a very bad ending to the book which was annoying. 

Madelyn Grasso

Block 4

June ,17 ,2013

How The Garcia Girls lost Their Accents.

The Book Review

1.) The book i read is calle How The Garcia Girls lost Their Accents.  The author is Julia Alvarez.  

2.) The story is about four sisters Clara the oldest, Yolanda, Sandra, and the youngest Sofia from Dominican Republic growing up in America.  Each daughter has there own problem they have to deal with.  They spent their child years in the Dominican Republic and their college years in America. They are looking back from when they were younger and revisiting their stories.  There father gets intruobke with the secret police and try to help him.  

3.) I like That the story tells different things about each of the sisters.  It tells you about what all the sisters are like and all the different expenses they have in America.  I do not like how it jumps around to all the sisters in a random story.  It confuses me when it jumps to different places.  My favorite part was when

4.)I would recommend this book for people that have good imaginations.  This book would be good for teens and adults.  People from 15 to 40s would like it.  It would be a fun read for people that enjoy books that have stories inside the story.  This is more of a challenge read.  I rate this book three stars.

5.) This book is a good read.  Sometimes things and be a bit confusing but if you can pick things up fast it would be a good book to read.  If you are someone that has move to America you could really relate to this book.