The Ministers Daughter: A Review By ArwenPond

Title: The Minister's Daughter

Author: Julie Hearn

Format: Hard Cover

Length: 272 pages
Price: $7.99

"Powers of the air, be here now. So mote it be." Nell is a wild child. Conceived on May Morning, she is claimed by the piskies and faeries as a merrybegot, one of their own. She is the village cunning woman's granddaughter: herb gatherer and healer, spell-weaver and midwife...and, some say, a witch. Grace is a Puritan minister's daughter: beautiful and refined, innocent and sweet-natured...to those who think they know her. But she is hiding a secret -- a secret that will bring everlasting shame to her family should it ever come to light. A merrybegot and minister's daughter -- two girls who could not have less in common. Yet their fates collide when Grace and her younger sister, Patience, are suddenly spitting pins, struck with fits, and speaking in fevered tongues. The minister is convinced his daughters are the victims of witchcraft. And all signs point to Nell as the source of the trouble....

--Summary from Google Books

The story is told in a really interesting way; every other chapter is told in third person and the others are told as a witch trial confession of Patience Madden, the younger of the two minister's daughters. You always know what's really happening with this book and you never really get confused, which is nice. If you weren't quite sure what was real and what wasn't, then the story wouldn't be as good. My favorite part was the end, not because it was the end, but because it ties it back to Salem (the story takes place somewhere in England, I think). It shows the beliefs of people back then and the traditions they carried out, which is really cool.

I give this book 5 out of 5, because it's amazing.

There's nothing inappropriate in it at all.

The cover shows Grace, the older of the Minister's daughters.

ArwenPond

Wednesday Wondering: What do you Hate Edition?

Wednesday Wondering; this is the edition of “WHAT DO YOU HATE IN A BOOK?” by: Nialllover12.

I collected some answers from my English class and here they are:

Golden marshmallow218 said …….. If you watch the movie and read the book the author is not as detailed in the movie…… 

Glossygrammergirl514 said…………. I don’t like when there are a lot of people dying and at the beginning of the book everybody is so happy.

Then Elvis Presley said…….. The book The Hunger Games made me never want to read it again! I didn’t like the part were Rue died…….

supercat123 said.......When they come out with the fist book, and they leave it open-ended before the second book comes out, and it takes a long time to come out.

poutiepidgy said........I hate when they don't make sequels, and it's a good book. I want to see how the story goes.

silverdragon said....I hate it when they do a cliffhanger at the end of a book, or when one of the really awesome characters that you've grown attached to dies.

TheMuse said........I hate it when authors give a really bad, sappy ending. Sometimes when a guy defeats the main evil guy, he has a whole other problem to deal with, but they just leave him with, "Well, he kissed a girl!" It leaves me thinking, "What the heck? There's still another bad guy out there!"

flickagirl said......I hate when authors stop and describe something during a really suspenseful part in the book.

arwenpond said......I don't like it when they tell you a fact or something and then they either don't explain it or the fact is so random and it doesn't add to the story at all.

Nialllover12 said.......when they only bring out one movie, but they have all the books out, so it kind of ruins it.

happyunicorns said......I don't like when they put random things in the middle of the book that has nothing to do with anything, and then on the next page it goes back to the regular story.

phoenix said....CLIFFHANGERS! They're evil. Especially when there isn't a sequel.

What was your thought? What makes you hate a book?

Knowing Death: original fiction by Maja



picture from http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/death-is-beautiful

 Knowing Death part one: long ride

So today is my last day here in my small-town home in North Dakota to go to an engineering college in New York City. I’m excited to go, but I’m going to miss my friends, and I don’t really want to be alone after what happened last night.

My friends and I were supposed to go stargazing at Black Lake like in the old days, but we got distracted by a meteor that crashed about a mile from the car. We went to look for it, but I guess we were imagining things, because we, at least I, saw something very different.

It was like an escape pod from one of those Science fiction shows that Mom used to watch. I saw someone running from it and we ran after him, but he/she was too fast and when we got back to the space junk it had magically turned into an abandoned rusty car. So I’m questioning my sanity, even as my Mom is crying on my shoulder. She’s always been the super emotional type and the fact that she’s hugging me so tight is also normal.

“Mom,” I said, “You’re crushing me.”

When she finally let go she started talking again, “It’s just I love you so much and I don’t want you to leave, but I’m so happy that you’re going to college!” most of it was like a sobbing gibberish but this is nothing compared to my first boyfriend.

Then I saw dad come out with my last bag, “Hey, my little sport’s going to college!” he said, Dad has called me that ever since I beat the cousins at football when I was seven. My mom wishes I’ll become an artist or a writer or something other than an engineer, all of my teachers say I’m a genius but nothing like that really interests me as much as building my own stuff does.  So that’s why I’m going, plus I want to prove all of those football jerks that say I’m too girly to do anything worthwhile. 
           
I met my friends at the airport where they were arguing over a bright pink sign that had glitter covering the edges and said “Goodbye Jamie!!!” in big bold letters. Jeff would not stop talking about how lucky I am to be going to the music capital and managed to make me promise to email him pictures of every stage I go to. It’s probably the single weirdest promise I have ever made, but the chances of that actually happening is zero. Then Amy shoved him aside and started her nonstop talk about how lucky I am to be going to the fashion capital of America, and now I have to go shopping. Which I’ll tolerate when I’m with Jeff or Amy because they practically pick all of the outfits, so I just have to try them on, but now I think they’re going to kill what’s left of my Christmas spirit this holiday season. I guess I’ll just buy the worst sweater I can find so I can see their faces! Anyway, we say our last in person goodbyes before the endless calls and texting that will start as soon as the plane lands. Then I go through the intense security and finally get on the plane. It already feels like a long trip, makes me wonder how I’ll feel after a few hours squished between a random snoring person and the window.            

Now that the plane has landed in New York a few hours later I don’t feel as bad, still a little dizzy but at least I don’t have air-sickness anymore. I walk around for a while looking for the exit when I look outside and see the city, the absolute, most amazing place I’ve ever seen. My train of thought came to an abrupt halt when someone tapped me on the shoulder; I turned and saw a tan girl with braided hair and a super smiley expression. “Hi, are you Jamie?” she asked in a no nonsense voice.

“Yeah?” I said to the stranger.

“I’m Becky, your roommate from the tech school.” she said.

“Oh! Nice to meet you, I didn’t know this place had dorms at least they weren’t on the brochure.” I said holding out my hand.

“They don’t but I thought you would need a place, am I right?” Becky grabbed my forearm instead and said, “It’s only temporary if you don’t want to stay, but either way you need to know that handshake for your own survival.” That was the last thing she said before we went out and got a taxi. Leaving me wondering what's in store for me...

Wednesday Wondering: Book or Movie First Edition!

Wednesday Wondering: Book or Movie First? A post by Supercat123.
                                                                                                                                      
Hey! Supercat123 here, I asked my 6th grade language arts class, "Would you rather read the book first or see the movie first?" Here are some results from my 6th grade class.  

Zumie said, "I would want to watch Harry Potter first, it is had to understand if you have not seen the movie."

Cheese curd luver said, "Breaking Dawn I would want to see the movie first, also. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, I would read the book first. It also depends on the book or movie."

Pretty Color Girl said, "I would rather read the book first so I could see the differences in the movie!!!"

Bob Lincon said, "Watch the movie first!!!! If you watch the movie first the book will make more sense, like Harry Potter."

Directioner4life said, "I would rather see the movie first. Like when I watched the Lorax first then I read the book." 

Lollipop575 said, "I would rather read the book first, such as the Hunger Games or Harry Potter." 

So, what do you think, read the book or watch the movie first?? Personally, I think read the book first, so then when I watch the movie I can match  the characters in my head , with the ones in the movie.   

My Sister the Vampire: Lucky Break, a review by Shutterbug

 

Title: My Sister the Vampire: Lucky Break

Author: Sienna Mercer

Format: Softcover

Price: $4.99

 

In the series called My Sister the Vampire, Lucky Break is the sixth book in the collection. One of the twin sisters Olivia gets a part in a play which she auditioned for so she could get her first kiss with her boyfriend. But her boyfriend doesn't get the part and now she had to kiss a guy she definitely doesn't like. Luckily the director says that she will cut out all the kisses till the end. Also at that time of the school year, the twins get to meet their aunt, and Olivia gets to ride a horse, but Ivy, Olivia's twin sister, can't because horses don't really like her. She thinks it's because she's a vampire. Ivy feels left out but turns out to be braver than she thought, so everyone gets happy, but just wait till next year.

 

I enjoyed all the action and all the times they were about to get in trouble but they got out of it. There's a lot of drama in the series, and I like that the sisters always stay together. My favorite part of this book was during the play when the boyfriend went to help Olivia so she doesn't have to kiss the boy she doesn't like!

 

Rating: I would give this book 5 out of 5 chocolate bars.

Appropriateness: It's appropriate for almost any age. There's no bad language at all.

Cover Thoughts: It's fitting to the book.

I'd tell you I love you but then I’d have to kill you, a review by pinkunicorns

Title: I'd Tell You I Love You But Then I’d Have to Kill You

Author: Ally Carter

Format: paperback

Length/number of pages: 288

Price 8.99

Short Summary: Gallagher girl Cammie Morgan can kill a man with her bare hands. She speaks seven languages. She is a spy and can't have a boy friend but has one anyway!

Strengths/Weaknesses/Favorite Parts: My favorite part of the book is the dance and where she fakes a head ache because she wants to get away from her secret boyfriend that nobody knows about.  It was funny to read! I just collapsed in heaps of laughter for no reason. Cammie's weaknesses are Josh and chocolate!      

Rating I would give this book 5 stars
Appropriateness: not for boys.

Cover Thoughts: It is cool because it looks like a newspaper.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson, a review by Jacqline

Book Title: Will Grayson Will Grayson

Format: Hardcover

Author: John Green and David Levithan

Number of pages: 310

Price: $17.99

Short Summary: Will Grayson (1) reconnects with his old friend Tiny Cooper and is fighting against his feelings towards Tiny’s friend Jane. Will Grayson (2) thinks his life is horrible except for the boy he’s instant messaging, and is in love, with. Eventually, these two Will Graysons meet and help each other out, with the help of Tiny Cooper. Tiny helps them both realize what’s great in their lives and helps mend their rocky relationships.

Strengths/Weaknesses/Favorite Part:
Weaknesses: I thought some weaknesses were that I didn’t realize that the book was from two different points of view until the Will Graysons met. It wasn’t very clear. I liked different the points of view from two very different people with the same name.

Some strengths are that it has good humor and has two very different yet really good love stories.

Chocolate Bar rating: 3

Appropriateness: There were lots of swearing and sexual references.

Cover Thoughts: The cover had nothing to do with the book except that Will Grayson is written twice so that the two Will Graysons are intersecting. This is what they do in the story.

from Jacqline

The Vamire Angel Original Fiction By: Wolf Angel




 The Vampire Angel [Part 1]

Jenny, a 16 year old girl, is in bed sleeping. It's 7:30 and she needed to get up in 5 minutes to get ready to get on the bus and go to school. Five minutes passed by and her alarm went off, Jenny groaned and hit snooze, or at least she thought she hit snooze. She missed the button and it kept going off.

She got up, and turned the alarm off. She was still half asleep and grabbed some random clothes whitch were a pink tee-shirt and purple jeans. She put them on then brushed her teeth. After she brushed her teeth, she grabbed her back pack. She put her back pack on then stumbled to her bus stop. The bus had just pulled up, the doors opened and Jenny walked on.

Someone yelled out "JENNY!!!!" Jenny looked to the person and smiled.  It was her best friend (and her only friend) Tori. She walked over to Tori and sat down next to her. Tori said, "Jenny you almost missed the bus but you made it. You need to set you alarm before when it's set for."

Jenny sighed. "No, it's set for 7:25."

Tori said back, "Set it for 7:15 then, anyways, how are you?"

"Im fine, just tired" Jenny said then closed her eyes

"Ok then," Tori said back then and turned to look out the window. Fifteen minutes passed by and Tori tried to wake Jenny up and told her, "We are at school." Jenny woke up and grabbed her backpack then walked off the bus.

Ty, a 16 year old guy in homeroom, was waiting to see Jenny. He had a crush on her but thought he wouldn't have a chance. Ty saw Jenny's black hair and sat up in his seat. Jenny walked in, she saw Ty and smiled to him flashing her amazing smile. Ty smiled back, Jenny sat down in her seat and Ty walked up to her saying "Hello, you're Jenny, right?"

Jenny looked up then nodded.  "Yes, I'm Jenny, why?"

"Well umm.... I'm new and I was wondering if you could help me. By the way i'm Ty," Ty said shyly to her.

Jenny nodded again. "Of course I can."

The Bar Code Tattoo Book One review by PoutyPigie

The Bar Code Tattoo Book One:

 Information:

Author: Suzanne Weyn

Cover:  paper back

Length: 256 pages

first published September 1^st 2004 by scholastic paperbacks

Target age: grades 6^th-8^th

Genre:  mystery, suspense, science fiction

Theme/ Subject: determination, perseverance, individuality, and self-esteem

Grouping: Trilogy Personal review:

     

17 year old Kayla Reed is living in a world controlled by the all powerful Global 1 and every one 17 and older in the U.S needs to get a barcode tattoo which secretly holds all the information about you, EVERYTHING!!! Though tattoo gen (secret operatives convincing uncertain kids to get the tattoo) and global 1 are doing their best to make the barcode tattoo look like a Great, convenient, normal thing. (You can use it as a passport, credit-card,etc)  When Kayla decides not to get a Tattoo, her live tumbles into chaos. And an epic adventure is close to follow.

I love this book 3.5-4 out of five chocolate bars, great plot twists, likeable/unlikeable characters, good story line. My complaints are that one of the major plot twists Suzanne Weyn throws in doesn’t fit, you don’t feel that bad about her parents (they aren’t likeable enough) and we don’t always know always what Kayla is feeling. (At important parts)

Overall I think this book is very worth reading, it’s a simple read, its action packed,interesting,suspenseful, and pretty much a worth reading book. Enjoy ;)

Appropriateness: It's a little violent, but not super-violent.
Cover Thoughts: I think the cover matched up with the story but the girl doesn't look like the main character does, I don't think.

Official summary from back of the book:

Individuality vs. Conformity

Identity vs. Access
Freedom vs. Control

The Bar Code Tattoo. Everybody's getting it. It will make your life easier, they say. It will hook you in. It will become your identity.

But what if you say no? What if you don't want to become a code? For Kayla, this one choice changes everything. She becomes an outcast in her high school. Dangerous things happen to her family. There's no option but to run...for her life.

 

                                                                                                          

Saving Ceecee Honeycutt

Title: Saving Ceecee Honeycutt
Author: Beth Hoffman
Format: Hardcover
Price: $15.00
Length: 320 pages

The book Saving Ceecee Honeycutt is an amazing book with drama, comedy, action, and suspense.

A twelve year old girl named Ceecee Honeycutt first finds out her mother is suffering from a mental disorder and tries to deal with it. Her mother got so crazy she acts as if she was young at the time she won a beauty pageant. She wore many pageant gowns, tiaras, and lots of lipstick. She even started dressing Ceecee up in gowns. One day Ceecee got so sick of shopping and wasting money, and the mother drove Ceecee and her father so sick that they yelled at her and what happens next throws everyone's lives into sadness. Ceecee's father made Ceecee move with her aunt Tootie in Georgia. They helped her over that sadness and they had many happy times together in the new and improved Ceecee Honeycutt's new life which she loves very much.

The strengths of this book were that I enjoyed how much Ceecee loved spending time with her aunt and her aunt's best friend who lives with them. Everyone's lives got better ever since she came to live with them. I might change the relationship Ceecee had with her mother because they didn't really show anything that special. My favorite part was a funny part that happened near the beginning of the school year.

Rating: I give this book 4 out of 5 chocolate bars
Appropriateness: I think this book should be for ages fourteen and up because there are bad words and a few inappropriate parts.
Cover Thoughts: I think it's very sweet.

Wednesday Wondering: Genre Edition

Is Non-fiction as Popular as Fiction is? WW By: ZombifiedUnicorn (a.k.a the best student evaa)                   

A couple of weeks ago I noticed that a ton of middle schoolers were saying that they “don’t like non-fiction books” because they’re so “boring." And I was kind of appalled. I wandered if they even knew how vast and voluminous (vocab words!) the non-fiction genre is, just like fiction is. So I decided to conduct a survey and not just ask one student, but to ask 20, because 20 students would probably be more reliable than 1. And I needed to find out about a few things. At first I needed to know if each individual liked fiction or non-fiction, and why. If they knew some examples of non-fiction. And if any non-fiction interested them. I surveyed roughly the same amount of 6^th, 7^th and 8^th graders and here were my results.  

           
Fiction or non-fiction?: 15 fiction, 2 non-fiction, and 3 said both.

           
Why do you like that genre?:

• Don’t like the real world, like fake things. – 5
• Boring. – 3
• Too serious [in non-fiction] – 2
• Everything is perfect [in fiction]. – 1
• Lose interest [in non-fiction]. – 1
• Truthful [in non-fiction]. – 1
• [Non-fiction] is helpful to learn. – 2

Examples of non-fiction?:

• Magazines. – 8
• Newspapers. – 5
• Science/math books. – 4
• Biographies. – 3
• Journals. – 2

Does any non-fiction interest you? What kind?:

• Science books. – 1
• Math books. – 1
• Biology books. – 1
• History books. -1
• True stories. – 1

When I saw the results, I wasn’t that surprised. I kind of figured that fiction would be more popular than non-fiction because the students were almost telling me this BEFORE I did the survey… and the reasoning behind their decision was ‘normal’ in a sense. But when I saw how many examples of non-fiction people said, I was blown away (...almost). Everybody knew a lot of works of non-fiction and they still didn’t like it. I thought that if, and when they knew what was in the non-fiction genre they would like it. But evidently that wasn’t the case. So, my conclusion is that they are all aliens… (Just kidding)

The Face on the Milk Carton Book Review by Phoenix

Title: The Face on the Milk Carton Book Review by Phoenix

Author: Caroline B. Cooney

Format: Ebook

Price: $7.99

Length: 210 pgs

Summary:
Jane Johnson or, as she likes to be called, Jayyne Johnstone, is a normal teenager. She isn’t struggling with grades, she is well off, and, like everyone else, she pays no attention to the faces on the milk cartons. One day, she sees a face and suddenly realizes something. That missing child on the milk carton is her. She then has to figure out if it is truly her and if it is, how could her caring parents be kidnappers and how did they do it? Just one skipped school day and a drive to New Jersey and the discovery of a family that looks a lot like her reveals all.

This book’s strengths were suspense and it keeps your attention. Its weakness is that it’s way too short. It’s part of a series but it still it really short compared to other series. I give this book four out of five chocolate bars because it’s an amazing book but it’s too short. I liked this book because everyone can relate to Jane when she wonders if she doesn’t really belong to her parents. I rate this book fairy princess; anyone who can read chapter books because there is no inappropriate content. The cover is simple but interesting.

Review: Wolves of the Beyond book 1: Lone Wolf Reveiw by: Wolf Angel

Book Title: Lone Wolf (Wolves of the Beyond)

Format: Paperback

Author: Kathryn Lasky

Length/number of pages: 238

Price: $6.99

Short Summary: Lone Wolf was about a gnaw wolf who was taken from his mother and sent down a river, he gets caught on a grizzly bear's paw. The grizzly bear takes him in and teaches him how to eat, and act like a grizzly bear. She names the wolf pup Faolan, “fao” means river in both wolf and bear, “lan” means gift in bear. Faolan’s mom (the grizzly bear) dies and Faolan needs to find his way back to his pack.

Favorite part: my favorite part had to be when Faolan makes it back to his pack. He isn’t greeted very nicely, but he sticks to it and tries to stay in line.

Rating (out of five chocolate bars) I give this book a 5/5

Appropriateness: This book is appropriate for any ages.

Cover Thoughts: The cover for Lone Wolf (Wolf of the Beyond) is amazing it was very neat and gave the book a good impression.