"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read" ~Groucho Marx

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Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Danger.com: @7//Most Wanted/

Cray, Jordan. Danger.com: @7//Most Wanted/ NY: Aladdin Paperbacks, 1998. 233 pages. (Mystery Series)

In this story, the main characters are Andy and Syd; Syd’s mom, Rachel; Andy’s mom and dad, Wendy and Silas. The story takes place in California. Andy’s mom, Wendy, is his adopted mother and Andy just found out. Andy’s dad has been gone forever and Andy doesn’t quite remember him. The problems they face are that Andy’s father is a murderer, and he is trying to kill Andy’s mom as well. He is trying to kill Wendy because he wants Andy all to himself and he also wants all her money. So if he kills her he will get Andy and all of Wendy’s money from her business. They go about solving the problem by finding out all kinds of interesting facts and the truth behind Silas Murdoch, Andy’s dad. Some other events that happened in this book were that Silas kills her old friend and boss and a friend of Andy’s who is helping them to find out facts on Silas.

When I was reading this book, Syd reminded me of one of my best friends. They both have the same personalities and Syd is the kind of friend I have and that I love. I liked this book a lot because it made me want to keep reading to find out what happens next. I would definitely recommend this book to kids my age. It is very good!

Reviewed by: LaLaLo17

Point Blank

Horowitz, Anthony. Point Blank. NY: Penguin, 2005. 288 pages. (Action / Adventure Series)

The main characters of this book, Point Blank, are a fourteen-year-old boy named Alex Rider, his dad Michael J. Roscoe, and his enemy Dr. Grief. It takes place in the French Alps where a boarding school only accepts young boys of who are being bad. Alex is there undercover to investigate the murders of two of the students’ rich fathers: Michael Roscoe, a nice wealthy man who was killed by falling down an elevator shaft by a hired hit man. Many other mysteries take place at the school that Alex faces trying to solve this problem. Alex realizes while facing death from Dr. Grief that he has developed a plan to clone all the boys after killing them and their fathers. The clones would take their places at home and at the families’ wealthy corporations to learn top secrets and take over the world. Alex had to escape and run for his life.

The character I do not like in this story is Dr. Grief. He is mean and cheats to get ahead in the world. I like the character Alex because he is always trying to solve the problems before others get hurt like Michael Roscoe. The action and mysteries in this story by Anthony Horowitz make the story interesting and fun to read.

Reviewed by: BookWorm8

Soul Surfer

Hamilton, Bethany. Soul Surfer. Kauai, Hawaii: Puffin Books. 206 pages. (Non-Fiction / Autobiography)

Bethany Hamilton and her family are all surfers and want to be professional surfers. But something happened to Bethany, she loses an arm during a shark attack! Will her will power be strong enough to get back on the board and will she make it in time to the hospital to save her life? This is her biography, and she puts her heart and soul in it. Right now this is my favorite book: I’ve read it in 2 days because I couldn’t put the book down. If you like to surf, then read this book—If you don’t, you’ll want to surf too. Even more, knowing someone got attacked and lost her arm during the attack, you will want to surf more and more for the adrenalin rush. So be thankful to have an arm to do everything with.

Reviewed by: Dolphin Girl

Dragon’s Bait

Vande Velde, Vivian. Dragon’s Bait. Orlando: First Magic Carpet Books, 1992. 196 pages. (Fantasy)

The main characters are: Ally, Toby, and Inquisitor Atherton. Griswold is where the story takes place. The problem that Aly faces is the people have accused her of being a witch. She solves this problem by proving to them that she is not a witch. Other interesting events in this story are that she meets a dragon/boy in the forest.

The character I am most like is Aly because I have been accused of doing something I did not do. Ally was accused of witchcraft. The character I despised was the Inquisitor. He was the meanest guy in the story. There is nothing in this story that has ever happened in my life. I would recommend this book to others because that it is a very nice story. I would not share this book to my parents because they don’t like violence.

Reviewed by: Ares

Snakehead

Horowitz, Anthony. Snakehead. London: Walker Books, 2007. 388 pages. (Action / Adventure Series)

Alex Rider is, once again, on an action-packed mission. He meets some new people on his way: Major Yu and Ash. He is falling out of the sky after going up in space from the last book, Ark Angel, and he lands right in the ocean south of Australia. Luckily, an Australian military aircraft carrier picks him up from the ocean. They bring him back to Australia where Ethan Brooks, head of ASIS (Australian Secret Intelligence Service), tells him that he is to go on a mission disguised as an Afghan refugee to try and infiltrate a Snakehead (one of many drug, weapons, refugee, and other illegal smuggling groups.) The Snakeheads operate all over the world smuggling things in an out of countries. The ASIS want to know who are leading groups so they send Alex and Ash, Alex’s godfather. The only reason Alex is going on this mission is so he can learn about his parents. Alex and Ash go through a lot of trouble and eventually, when they are getting smuggled into Australia, they get separated and Alex gets kidnapped by the Snakehead. Can he escape the death the Snakehead has planned for him? You’ll just have to read the book and find out!

My favorite character has to be Major Yu because he is old, mean, and could kill someone and not even care at all! He is a great character because he just loves his job- killing and blackmailing. Major Yu is the head of many illegal Snakeheads all over the world. He is one of the most evil people on this planet.

Reviewed by: Jazzy-G

Holes

Sachar, Louis. Holes. NY: Frances Foster Books, 1998. 233 pages. (Fiction / Humor)

The book Holes is about a teenager named Stanly Yelnats who is charged with a crime. The crime that he was charged with was stealing a pair of shoes from a homeless shelter. He pleads he is innocent but the judge finds him guilty. Stanly is given a choice between going to jail or going to Camp Greenlake. He chooses to go to camp. It is a long way to the camp, but he eventually got there. On the way though, he saw no lakes. All he saw was desert. He met the councilors and the warden. The warden’s name is Mr. Sir. One of the councilors’ name is Mr. Pendenski. They gave him clothes and told him to get to work. He was told to dig a hole five feet by five feet. The reason why they have him dig holes is because they think that it makes the juveniles think about what they have done. Also, it builds up their mind. So Stanley gets to work digging holes. The people that he is digging holes with introduce him to a kid named Zero. That is his nick-name that the other kids gave him. His real Name is Hector. The reason that they call him Zero is because he does not talk and he can’t read. He was never taught how to. As time goes by, he finds an object in his hole and shows the warden. As soon as one of the other kids sees that Stanley found something, he takes it from him. The warden told everybody that if they find anything they get the day off from digging holes.

The kid said, “I think that I deserve the day off because I have been here longer than you.” After a while Stanley runs away with Zero because they were tired of everybody. The councilors thought for sure that they would be dead because the camp had the only water source for fifty miles. But they come back for something. They come back to find the missing treasure. Eventually they find it but the warden and the councilors catch them and say that is not theirs. Stanley’s attorney finds out about how they have been treating them and comes to get Stanley. But when she got there Stanley refused to leave without Zero. Stanley did this because Zero did not have any family. His mom left Zero in a park one day and never came back for him. So Stanley’s attorney agrees and takes Zero too. The police also came and arrested the warden and the councilors for not reporting the incident of Stanley and Zero running away. Stanley and his family got to keep the treasure because on the treasure chest it says Stanley Yelnats the first. This by the way is Stanley’s great grandfather. To find out what they did with the money and about what happens to Zero, you have to read the book. I would recommend this book because it was very interesting to read about what they do at the camp. Also, I would recommend this book to anybody who likes the author, Louis Sachar.

Reviewed by: Lenafan43

Raven's Gate

Horowitz, Anthony. Raven's Gate. NY: Penguin books, 2005. 266 pages. (Action / Adventure Series)

This book kicks off when Matt, a 14 year old orphan, who lives with his aunt in Ipswich, a small city in England, gets involved in stealing DVD's and video games. He and his friend want to sell these for money. When they get discovered, Matt's friend kills the security guard that discovers them, and then blames Matt for it. Matt has to participate in a project called the LEAF Program, for young delinquents. Matt is sent to a place called Lesser Malling, a small community in Scotland. But when Matt hears strange whispers in the middle of the night, and discovers activity in Omega 1, an old nuclear power station, he wonders what the people of Lesser Malling are up to. When he tries to escape though, all the roads lead back to the place where he began. Matt begins to suspect that the people of Lesser Malling are practicing witchcraft, and that they are trying to keep Matt from finding out. They are also using their powers to keep Matt in Lesser Malling as well. I really liked this book because of all the suspense mixed with horror. This book was really interesting because of the way Matt tries to escape the horrors of Lesser Malling, but he never can until the very last moment.

Reviewed by: San Andreas

The Amulet of Samarkand

Stroud, Jonathan. The Amulet of Samarkand. NY: Hyperion Books, 2004. 462 pages. (Fantasy Series )

The book, The Amulet of Samarkand, is the first book in The Bartimaeus Trilogy. It is about an eleven year old boy named Nathaniel. When he was six years old, he became the apprentice to Arthur Underwood, a middle-ranking magician who worked for the Ministry of International Affairs. One evening when Nathaniel was about ten, he was introduced to some of Underwood’s fellow magicians. One of them was Simon Lovelace, who tested Nathaniel while he was meeting him. He embarrassed him very much by asking him some of the hardest questions about magic. Nathaniel wanted revenge, so he summoned a five-thousand-year-old djinni, a type of genie, called Bartimaeus. Nathaniel ordered him to steal Lovelace’s most prized possession: The Amulet of Samarkand, which protects you so that magic can harm you when you are wearing it. Bartimaeus carried out this order and stole it for him. After Nathaniel has the amulet, he thinks that everything is fine until he realizes how valuable it is. Soon after this happens, catastrophes start to break out and everything goes wrong.

I really liked this book and felt that it was very well written. The author knows how to capture the characters feelings and put them into your own heart. When you read this book, you feel warm and fuzzy inside, and then you will feel hatred for some of the characters: Lovelace, Arthur Underwood, Bartimaeus, and even Nathanial sometimes. At one moment they seem so kind and innocent, and then one of them does something terrible that makes you hate them such as trying to kill someone or stealing something. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves to read a good novel.

Reviewed by: Lesh