Eagle Eye on Magic Treehouse



This is actually a Magic Tree House book about the Wild West.  It is called Ghost Town at Sundown and I liked this book.  Jack and Annie go to a ghost town and see a ghost, but it is a friendly ghost.  But then they hear horse hooves coming into the ghost town but they are actually bandits who have stolen a cowboys herd of horses.  Jack and Annie get the herd back and the cowboy writes a book.  You have to read the rest of the book to find out the whole story.  It is worth reading and is exciting the whole way through.





The book I read is Dingoes at Dinnertime and it is a Magic Tree House Book.  The reason I like Magic Tree House books is because they are very interesting and they are usually about history.  This book takes place in Australia.  In the book there is a forest fire and Jack and Annie meet a mama kangaroo with its joey in her pouch.  The mama kangaroo gets chased by a pack of wild dogs and she takes off hopping to where Jack and Annie can’t see her and then she throws her baby to safety and then leads the wild dogs away when they chase her.  Then the forest fire gets bigger and soon the whole forest is getting burnt.  Annie runs off to get a koala bear.  I learned that forest fires are a threat to koala bears because they can’t move very fast.  The adventures continue as jack and Annie try to escape from the forest fire.  But you will have to read the book in order to hear the end.  I thought this book was good and I learned a lot from it. 



Dolphins At Daybreak is another Magic Tree House Book.  Jack and Annie go to a coral reef and see dolphins, a hammerhead shark, and an octopus which grabs them and breaks the mini sub that they are in.  They have to get up to get some air right away.  Once they get up to the air the mini sub is broken so they have to swim.  There is no way they can swim that far so the dolphins come and help them.  Jack and Annie both see a shark but they don’t say anything because they both want the other one to stay calm.  So they get back to the coral reef and they solve the riddle that their friend gave to them.  I won’t tell you the answer so that you will have to read the book to find out what happens.  This book was good, but I wouldn’t say it was great.  I like some of the other Magic Tree House Books better.







This is another Magic Tree House book and it is about Hawaii.  Jack and Annie go surfing.  They meet friends on every journey, and this time they meet friends in Hawaii and stay overnight at their friends house.  When Jack isn’t surfing he reads something in their friend’s research guide.  He reads that there could be a huge wave that would wipe them all out because there is a volcano under that island in Hawaii.  There is a small earthquake and Jack reads in their research guide that there is a big wave coming so he gets on his surf board and goes out to warn everyone.  They head for a high hill.  Will they be wiped out?  To be continued…if you read the book.  I think you should read this because it is a very good book. 

Blubber





Blubber is a young readers choice award winner by Judy Blume that was first published in 1974. The story is about the complicated life of fifth-grader Jill Brenner. Jill and everybody else in her class are always bullying Linda Fischer because she is fat. They even go as far as to nickname Linda "Blubber" and force her to eat a chocolate-covered ant while she cries instead of stand up for herself. 

The main theme of Blubber is bullying and how it can hurt peoples feelings. Instead of bullying Linda physically they bully her with words. Being bullied with words is more hurtful because a broken bone can heal but mean words go to your head and they mess with your mind.

This book takes place in Hidden Valley, Radnor, Pennsylvania. Hidden Valley is where a bunch of Jill's classmates live including Jill and her best friend Tracy Wu. Hidden Valley is a very woodsy place therefore there are two signs at the front one says Welcome to Hidden Valley-Speed Limit 25 Miles Per Hour and on the other side a sign that says Watch Our Children. These signs are there to insure the safety of the children. This shows the parents care about their children physically but don't pay close enough attention to see that they are being bullied mentally.

Characters

  • Jill Brenner - protagonist and best friend of Tracy Wu 
  • Linda Fischer - kid that everybody bullies because she's fat
  • Wendy - mean girl in class who everyone is afraid of
  • Mrs.Minish -  Jill's teacher for fifth-grade

I Liked Blubber because it was a good book with characters real kids might be able to relate to. This book teaches kids a good lesson about how bullying can hurt peoples feelings.  I recommend this book to people who like realistic fiction.

Judy Blume has written many books among them are Freckle Juice, Superfudge, Deenie, Starring Sally J. Freedman As Herself and many more. Over 80 million copies of her books have been sold and she has been translated into 31 different languages.

 

IL: MG - BL: 3.8 - AR Pts: 4.0

Heidi

Review by bkwrm03

Heidi by Johanna Spyri is a good book about an orphan girl who lives on a mountain with an elderly man named Alm-Uncle. He is very kind to her. Heidi also likes Grandmother, an elderly woman living near Alm-Uncle. When Heidi's aunt, Deit, tries to get Heidi to go to Frankfurt with her, Heidi doesn't want to and Alm-Uncle does not allow it. The reason that Deit wants to take Heidi is because Deit knows of a lonely handicapped girl named Clara who wants a friend. So Deit takes Heidi and brings her to Frankfurt. Heidi has a fun time at Frankfurt, but she becomes homesick and goes home. This is a wonderful story!


abridged: IL: LG - BL: 3.9 - AR Pts: 0.5 
unabridged: IL: MG - BL: 8.2 - AR Pts: 16.0