The Memory Keeper’s Daughter

Edwards, Kim. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter. NY: Press, Viking, 2005. 401 pages. (Realistic Fiction)

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter is about a doctor named David Henry who must deliver his own children, twins, in a blizzard. One is a healthy son, but the other is a girl with Down’s syndrome. Fearing that the girl with Down ’s syndrome will too much of a hassle for his delicate wife, Norah, he hands off his new daughter to the attending nurse, Caroline Gill. Ignoring the doctor’s demands to send the child to an institution, Caroline harbors the child as her own.

Norah, Dr. Henry’s wife doesn’t catch on that her long hoped for daughter is alive, but in the hands of somebody else, but believes the lie told to her by her husband, that Phoebe, the name given her, is dead and her funeral is next week. Norah falls into a deep melancholia and attempts to overcome it by drinking and deceit all her married life.

To no one’s knowledge, Caroline appears at the funeral, before she heads for Cleveland, then Pittsburgh with Phoebe and her new husband, Al, who are happily married. The book tracks the lives of the separated twins, Paul and Phoebe, as they grow and learn.

Do they ever find their parents? Do they ever even meet? Read The Memory Keeper’s Daughter to find out!

I personally thought that this book was touching and sad. At times it needed to pick up the pace a bit, as it was going too slowly. The author captures the essence of past times and how life was for a small family by writing an ordinary day experience that one would experience in the ‘60’s in great spirit, and she went about it in an excellent way of telling it overall.

Reviewed by: jacksparrow_136

Cleopatra VII

Gregory, Kristiana. Cleopatra VII. New York: Scholastic Inc, 1999. 175 pages. (Historic Fiction)

This story takes place in mostly Egypt and Rome. The story starts out in her palace in Egypt, then when her father is being hunted by the town’s people and must run, Rome. The problems she faces are that she is next in line for the throne, her pet leopard is missing, the town’s people are also trying to kill her, her sisters keep taking the throne while Cleopatra and her drunk of a father are in hiding, she needs to make allies with Rome, and she can’t even trust her own slaves or sisters, (who are also trying to poison her). She solves all those problems by going into Egyptian towns and villages to see and hear what they say about her, then changing what she was doing to make it to their liking, while she is Rome, having all her slaves and most of her sister’s slaves look for her leopard, she runs away to Rome to hide from the villagers that are trying to kill her, her father sends his guards to go and send the sisters into exile, while she is in Rome, she speaks Latin and is very friendly and courteous to the Roman leaders, and she gets her own drinks and food so no one can poison her.
 
I selected this book by reading the back and it looked very interesting. It talks about her sister wanting to poison her. This author would make a great social studies teacher because she knows a lot about ancient Egyptians. In ten words I would describe this book as a book that had a lot of interesting Egyptian facts.


Reviewed by: WalledIn

Papademetriou, Lisa. How To Be A Girly Girl In Just Ten Days. New York: Scholastic, 2007. 163 pages. (Fiction / Candy Apple Series)

The book I read was How to Be a Girly Girl in Just Ten Days. The main characters are Nick, Lindsay, Hannah, and Ben. The story takes place mostly in their school, but in a party too. Nick is a total tomboy who’s more interested in getting new basketball shoes then lip gloss and make up like the rest of the girls in her class. And after basketball practice one night “she gets invited to one of Hannah’s parties.” But that all changes, when she meets the new kid, Ben, because Ben is into the girly girls, like Hannah, Nick decides in order to get his attention she has to become a girly girl. To help her do is her best friend Lindsay, who also has a crush, but it’s a secret. The two of them go shopping first, and find nothing, so they go to the food court and have a snack; while they’re there they see Hannah. Hannah was not only the most popular girl through out the whole school, and the supper star on the basketball team, but also Nick’s and Lindsay’s worst enemy. So of course she had to come over and make fun of them some how. After that they finally found the perfect store. They got what they wanted and left. After a while of observing how Nick acts around guys, Lindsay decides to teach Nick how to talk to guys. In order to test her ability, Lindsay takes her to a reunion that her family is having. She does well till she sees Ben there. It went well till they all started dancing. By the time they got home Lindsay decides Nick is almost ready she just needs to use make up. They went to a little make up shop, and the owner Charlie was there and gave them ideas on what to put on and some free samples. Lindsay thinks she’s ready now.

I think the book was ok, but I would have picked some thing else if I had known really what the book was like. It wasn’t one of those books that you just can’t put down, but it wasn’t one that you would never pick up again.

Reviewed by: Mator1313

No Talking

Clements, Andrew. No Talking. New York: Scholastic Inc., 2007. (Fiction)

Have you ever wondered what it was like to not talk for two days? In the book No Talking, a kid named Dave Packer was starting school as a 5th grader, and all he could do is talk. It got him in a lot of trouble at school. Linsey Burgess is the other main character who does nothing but talk, and is not well liked by teachers.

Dave and Lynsey were partners in class and he coughed to avoid talking during a presentation. This made Lynsey mad. Then at lunch, she was just running her mouth and all of a sudden, Dave whips around and starts yelling at her. He wanted to try a “no talking” contest because he had read about Ghandi. Dave learned that Ghandi didn’t talk once a week to “bring order to his mind.” For the contest, they agreed that the winner would write a big L on their forehead with permanent marker. They decided to make it boys against girls. So the contest was on! They made rules, which was that no one could talk more than three words at a time or the rest of the group would be counted against their team.

If you want the ending revealed, then you’ll have to read the book to find out and how the principal played the game they were playing.

I liked this book because it was an interesting book to keep reading. If I were Dave, I couldn’t keep my mouth closed for two days, and I wouldn’t want to lose a contest against girls. I wouldn’t have started the contest to begin with, and I wouldn’t have even spoken to Lynsey if she had something mean to say. This book was easy to understand because it took place in school, and I can relate to that because I spend most of my day there, too. This book could happen in real life, but the principal in the book was too strict.

I would recommend this book to kids that talk a lot so they can be quiet once in a while. Also, anyone who likes reading Andrew Clements would enjoy this book because it is fun and interesting to read just like any of his other novels.

Reviewed by: Brine66

Revenge of the Wannabees

Harrison, Lisi. Revenge of the Wannabees. Little Brown and Company, 2004. 234 pages. (Realistic Fiction Series)
In the book Massie Block is the head of the clique. But when Alicia decides to start a clique of her own, Massie does not want to be Alicia’s friend anymore. Alicia then starts a clique of her own by inviting other people to join her clique. She tries to get other friends that are like her old friends, which are Kristen, Dylan, and the newest member Claire.

Massie replaces Alicia with Claire who has moved into Massies guesthouse until Claries parents can find a house.

Alicia starts to make Massie mad and then Massie bee’s mean back to her. After a while it becomes a huge fight. Alicia also tells Kristen, Dylan, and Claire lies about Massie saying mean things about them. After that they might want to join Alicia’s clique and leave Massies. If you want to find out if they do leave Massies clique, or if Alicia and Massie become friends again, then you will have to read it!
Reviewed By: AngelNOT

Septimus Heap: Book Three Physik

Sage, Angie. Septimus Heap: Book Three Physik. NY: Harper Collins, 2007. 544pages. (Fantasy)

The main character is Septimus Heap. The story takes place at Septimus’s castle, that’s where he lives. The problem that he faces is becoming a warrior and he doesn’t know how. He gets a personal trainer to help him master his skill and help him become a warrior. He does become a warrior and he’s proud to be one. His family members from his mother’s side came to visit and it didn’t go well.

I would read another book by this author, because this author is my most favorite author and I’ve read a lot of books by this author and I want to see what other books she has written. I selected this book by looking up the author of this book and I saw what books she had written and I started reading this series. I despise the Darke-Magyk, because he is evil and I don’t like him, because he’s evil and he’s always trying to kill Septimus and I don’t like that either.

Reviewed by: SamiSummers