The Amulet of Samarkand

The Amulet of Samarkand, by Jonathan Stroud, is the first book in The Bartimaeus Trilogy.


Bartimaeus, a five thousand year old djinni, and Nathaniel, a magician's apprentice alternate as the first person narrators for the story. After Simon Lovelace humiliates Nathaniel in public, Nathaniel starts plotting revenge on Lovelace. Summoning Bartimaeus is hard enough on its own but controlling him is almost impossible. When Bartimaeus is sent after Simon Lovelace's most prized possession Nathaniel  gets caught up in a whirlwind murder,theft and revenge.

This book takes place in London, England which is ruled by the powerful magicians who live there. Unlike Harry Potter, the commoners in the busy and populated city are aware of the wizards around them. In fact, they form a resistance to steal artifacts from the wizards which are occasionally used against them.

I would recommend this book to anyone, child or adult, who likes magic or fantasy. Stroud's series is packed with this and much more.

 "Jonathan Stroud, a former children's book editor, has written several books for young adults in England, where he lives." -inside back cover

The Amulet of Samarkand  awards

• winner of a Boston Globe (USA)
• winner of Lancashire Children's Book Award (UK)
• Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis (German Youth Literature Award)
• the WH Smith Teen Choice Award (UK)  

IL: MG+ - BL: 5.9 - AR Pts: 19.0

Big Nate: In a Class by HImself

Big Nate 

In a Class By Himself

By Lincoln Peirce

Review by Eagle Eye-- I like this book because Nate has a dream that he is in school and one of his teachers Mrs. Godfrey calls on him even though he doesn’t know the answer.  This causes Mrs. Godfrey to be upset with him, but then he hears his alarm clock and then his dad gets him out of his bed.  Nate thinks he’s destined for greatness but he’s not sure what that greatness is.  He says that there is a lot of ways for a school day to go wrong.  One thing is the teacher can nail you with a test that you never saw coming!  He has a friend names Francis who is kind of different—he thinks he has to eat his lunch in alphabetical order.  He has another friend named Teddy and he has a whole bunch of nicknames for the teachers.  Nate gets in a lot of trouble in this book and gets a lot of detentions.  But, he gets a fortune cookie from Teddy that says today you will surpass all others.  He thinks that it’s a sign that he will be great.  He also has a comic strip.  If you want to find out all the reasons why he goes to detention, you will have to read the book.  I really recommend this book it is very good!!

Divergent

Divergent by Veronica Roth, first published May 3, 2011, is about Beatrice Prior, a 16 year old Divergent girl.

Tris lives in a futuristic Chicago which has been divided into five factions, Abnegation: home of  The Selfless, Amity home of the The Peaceful, Candor home of the The Honest, Erudite home of the The Intelligent and Dauntless home of the The Brave. Most of the buildings are crumbled except for The Hub and the glass buildings they make.

Tris must choose between family or being who she really is. Every year at the choosing ceremony all sixteen-year-old's must choose which faction they want to spend the rest of their life with. Tris's decision surprises everybody, including herself. During initiation, she tries to find out who her real friends are and finds unlikely love with a boy who can be both romantic and infuriating. Tris also has a dark secret that no one can know; not even her family because she has been told it is deadly.

One Choice

Decides your friends

One Choice

 Defines your beliefs 

One Choice

Determines your loyalties-

Forever

One Choice

Can transform you

  

I liked Divergent because it was a great book and was very much like The Hunger Games. I would recommend this book to people who like dystopian fantasy and The Hunger Games. Recommended for ages fourteen and up due to mature content.

IL: UG - BL: 4.8 - AR Pts: 16.0

Peter and the Shadow Thieves

In Peter and the Shadow Thieves, the second book in the award-winning Starcatchers series by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, Molly and Peter reunite to keep the box of magical starstuff from falling into the hands of the evil Others as the hideous creature Lord Ombra. Along the way many unexpected turns come up like Tinkerbell getting captured, Peter leaving Neverland and one of Molly's maids almost killing her. The Others have sent Lord Ombra to get the trunk of starstuff from the Neverland . Will he succed or will Peter and Molly outsmart the Others once again? Read the book to find out.

This book takes place in London and Salisbury, England. London is a busy city and full of people at day but almost deserted at night. Salisbury is a town on the plains that holds one of England's mmain tourist attraction.

I liked Peter and the Shadow Thieves because it was a good book full of mystery and adventure.I would recommend this book to people who like fantasy.

Dave Barry is the award-winning author of thirty books including Tricky Business, Big Trouble, Dave Barry Turns 50, Dave Barry Turns 40 and many more. Barry currently lives in Miami,Florida.

Ridley Pearson is the best-selling author of The Kingdom Keepers, Never Look Back, Dead Aim, Parallel Lies, Hard fall and many more. Pearson and Barry write lots of book together including te Starcatchers series.

Superfudge

Do you remember your first encounter with Fudge?? Check out what Eagle Eye had to say this week!

 

The book Superfudge is really funny.  This is probably my favorite of all the books I’ve read in this series so far.  In this story, Peter’s family moves to a new house.  Fudge continues to be a little naughty, but not as bad as he was in the first story.  There are so many funny parts I would like to tell about, but I won’t tell about all of them because I don’t want to ruin it for you if you read it.  I really want to tell about when Peter comes home from a school party and he had drank a lot of cups of island punch.  He comes home and has to use the bathroom really really bad but Fudge is on the toilet.  Peter has to go so bad that he thinks about going to the bathroom in the plant.  He starts to unbuckle his belt but then Fudge gets done and he races in there.  It is so funny! Here’s the next funny part.  Fudge gets a bird and it talks.  What the bird says is really, really funny—but I’ll let you read the book to find out what it is.  

Thank you Eagle Eye for your contribution to Book-Attic's Read2012!