friendship
The CandyMakers: Book Review
Breaking News! 32, 12 year olds from around the country were invited to create a brand new candy to enter on this highly respected hundred-year-old competition. 4 children: Philip, Miles, Daisy, and Logan the son of the owner of Life Is Sweet Candy Factory.None of them knew it yet, but that there lives were about to change forever.
“ It’s the annual candy making contest!!” says the owner of Life is Sweet Candy Factory. 4 kids. 1 girl & 3 boys. 1’s the candymakers son.Competing against 32 other kids. 4 days to make a new candy that the judges will love to death. In 4 days to learn all about candy making that you need to make your candy. If you don’t put all the ingredients down on the paper for the contest you are disqualified.The CandyMakers is a book full of suspense and kept me on the edge of my chair. What would you do if you had 4 days to create the world's next best candy? While learning about candy and the process of making it, readers may have a tough time figuring out the theme. Though I think the theme of this book is Trust and Friendship. While reading this book the main characters: Daisy, Logan, Miles , and yes sad but true Philip learn about trusting one another and making true friends.
Wendy Mass brought me on a exciting but very mysterious ride in her book The CandyMakers. Masses way of writing made the book IMPOSSIBLE to put down. This book is filled with twists, action, and lots and lots of facts about candy. This book was so good in made me hate to have to put it down. I recommend this book for kids ages 10- 14 or grades 5-7 if you enjoy action and mysteries. If you knew what was good for you, you would run to the store and get this book right now because this book earns............ a well earned CUPCAKE!!
luv it
I really like the book 11 birthdays. I think it funny and mysterious. I think that all girls maby boys would love it. its about a boy and a girl sharing a birthday since the day they were born. But they are stuck in their great great grandfathers curse. Their names are leo and amanda. leo makes the big mistake by saying something at their birthday party. now amanda wont speak to him! thats when things start to get strange
Getting past the loss of a limb
This is a lovely book about perseverance and recognizing that everyone is struggling with something. Jessica loses her leg, below the knee, in an accident, when a vehicle runs into the bus that she is traveling on with her track team. The loss of a limb is devastating but knowing that she can't run really hurts Jessica. During the course of the book Jessica learns that she has the ability to both walk AND run again through the technology of prosthesis. As she retrains her body to adjust to her new leg and to reach for higher goals, we are cheering her all the way! She also learns about noticing other people--among them are Rosa, a peer who has cerebral palsy; Ms. Rucker, her math teacher, who is deeper than her tough veneer; Chloe, the receptionist where Jessica is fitted for her new leg, who has a story of her own to tell. I love that the accident heightens Jessica's awareness. You often hear about that kind of transformation in people. And I loved the comparison of the starting line to the finishing line and how they can be the same!
A book of friendship and loyalty without vampires!
I found this book in the middle school section, but the difficulty of the writing and vocabulary would make it more appropriate for an upper middle schooler or teen. I generally avoid teen books because they all seem to be about mean girls, eating disorders or vampires. Any suggestions to the contrary would be very welcome! Nicholas Benedict is maybe a little to smart for his own good. Of course having a photographic memory helps. The problem for this young orphan is his narcolepsy, which causes him to fall asleep in the oddest places and at the worst possible times, like when he's sneaking around the orphanage director's office looking for clues to a hidden treasure! In this story, Nicholas not only solves the mystery of a hidden treasure, but learns what it means to be a true friend. From what I understand this is actually a prequel to a trilogy of stories about Ncholas Benedict (as an adult, maybe?) I'm looking forward to reading more about his life.
How do you move on from the abyss of sadness?
This debut book for this author is AMAZING. Caitlin loses her best friend Ingrid. (they are in high school) Caitlin is grieving very hard and we journey with her as she comes to terms with her grief. Her parents take her on a trip in the summer to help her start to heal. When they get home her father leaves a pile of plywood in the backyard for her to build something which will give her a challenge and renewed purpose. Caitlin finds Ingrid's journal under her own bed and as she reads it, little by little, she realizes that she missed out on a lot of what her friend was thinking and feeling. Caitlin feels guilty but eventually gets to the point where she does some very positive things with the journal to help others on their grief journeys, too. For sure, the author does justice to the fact that everyone experiences grief in a different way. I love how art is shaped therapeutically in this book. *The scene where Caitlin goes to see "Rome and Juliet" is so well written. *Also, when Caitlin's mother sees her purchasing a rope in a hardware store. (These blew me away, among others!)
Wisconsin Connections
Felton Reinstein makes phenomenal changes in Stupid Fast: He goes from joke to jock, slow to fast, skinny to barbarian, hairless to hairy. He comes to these self-realizations through a difficult summer when his dysfunctional family is at it's most vulnerable. Maybe it all started when, at age 5, he found his father had committed suicide in the garage. This book has very funny, honest and realistic glimpses into being sixteen and discovering new things about the world. There's romance, sports, humor, mystery..... something for everyone. Wisconsinites can get a mental image of Plateville, WI when reading Stupid Fast. Geoff Herbach will be a featured author at the Waupaca Book Festival on October 13, 2012. Read this book and come meet the author.
A NICE surprise
After reading two reviews on the book blog I decided to check this one out. So glad I did. Around the third chapter I was beginning to worry. I was hooked on , Allie, the main character on the first page although I didn't like her that much. She was cold, stony, and couldn't seem to love anyone but her Mom. She really is devoted to her mom as her mom battles brain cancer and goes crazy. Would I/you be as devoted as her? Allie was very athiestic because of her Mom and when her Mom dies I was afraid this book was going to be very depressing. Her mom was a loveable character even though she was losing it.
Read more»I tried an audio
5 out of 5 stars. I never have anything bad to say about Dessen's books. Their plots and characters always keep me wanting more. I've never been a fan of audio books, but the reader on this one wasn't too bad. (Jodi Dick, narrator)
4 out of 5 stars
Harry Potter just finds out he is a wizard! He then goes to a school called Hogwarts. On the train there he meets his 2 best friends, Ron and Hermione. They get put in groups and Harry and friends get put in Gryffindor. Then flying lessons start and Harry becomes a Quidditch player like his dad. (Did I mention that Harry Potter's parents are dead?) At the end of the book, Harry finds the sorcerer's stone and defeats Voldemort (his enemy). To be continued...
Violet in Bloom
Violet, Yasman, Katie Rose, and Milia are best friends. Yasman comes up with an idea that the four of them should use their "power" for good by protesting on what they eat at snack time - Cheezy D'lits. The snacks have a lot of bad stuff in them and the company that makes them, Happy Healthy Farm, tortures the animals that they use in making the product. They get the whole class on their side and they plan an assembly and try to get the kids to leave, but the kids love the snack. Eventually, the assembly is stopped. The principal does get new snacks though. The new snacks are healthier and don't torture animals.
