Scat

The book Scat is about a feared biology teacher and her students. The main characters are Nick and Marta who are students of the biology teacher, Ms. Starch. On a field trip to the Black Vine Swamp, a forest fire starts (which is common) and Ms. Starch goes missing. Nick and Marta start researching the disappearance of their teacher after their friend, Smoke, is suspected of starting the fire because of his previous records with starting fires. Their researching leads them to find Ms. Starch: with a panther! Soon Nick, Marta, Smoke, Ms. Starch, and a older guy name Twilly go on a mission to return the baby panther to his mother. They succeed in their mission and find the real culprit of the forest fire.

The theme of Scat appreciating nature. This theme reoccurs throughout the book. Ms. Starch loves nature and she is a biology teacher. Smoke started his previous fire to save a bird's nest from being disturbed. Nick, Marta, and the others go on a mission to return the baby panther to it's mother. The police are trying to protect the Black Vine Swamp (a national forest) and the endangered panthers inside it. Appreciating nature is a reoccuring theme in Scat.

There are many characters in Scat. The two main characters are Nick and Marta. Nick is a good natured boy who enjoys playing baseball. He is good friends with Marta, who is spunky but cautious. Ms. Starch is a character who has two sides. In school, she is fearsome and tough. Outside of school, Nick and Marta learn that the other side of Ms. Starch is kind and is devoted to the environment. In the beginning of the book, Smoke was viewed as a big tough kid that you wouldn't want to get in the way of. By the end of Scat, Smoke redeemed himself.

I thought Scat was a good, but  not great. I like Carl Hiaasen's (the author's) voice. I also liked the mystery of book. For instance, when Ms. Starch went missing. I liked the characters as well. The thing I didn't like as much was the plot. It was very predictable and a little rushed near the end. Despite the plot, I really liked the plot. I would recommend it.

MLA Citations-

Hiaasen, Carl. Scat. New York City: Random House, Inc. 2009. Print.



I got my picture at:   http://1stevenm.edu.glogster.com/scat/

Princess Academy

The Princess Academy by Shannon Hale is about a girl named Miri who lives in a territory called Mount Eskel. The prince of the country is turning eighteen the next year so he has to be married. The person who foretells where the future princess will come from, says the bride will come from Mount Eskel. The government sends a tutor to take all the girls in Mount Eskel, ages 12-17, to go to the princess academy a few miles away. Miri is one of these girls so she is whisked away to the academy for a year. Here they learn how to read, how to write, history, poise, and other things a princess must face. Miri makes a lot of new friends and even becomes princess of the academy (not the country, just the school). Then the prince comes and meets the girls. The next day he leaves without even choosing his bride and says he will choose in about another six months. When he returns he picks Miri's friend, Britta. Relieved with joy because she didn't want to be princess, Miri returns to her home in Mount Eskel and Britta happily becomes princess.

The theme of this book is love. The Mount Eskel girls are going to the academy to see which girl the prince will love. At the academy the girls tend to think about love quite a bit. Britta, who was not from Mount Eskel, already knew the price and moved to the territory because she already loved him. It turns out even the prince is in love with Britta. After the prince choose his bride, Miri falls in love with a guy named Peder. Miri also loves her family and after a great deal of miscommunication, she finds out they love her back. That is why the theme of this book is love.

The main character in the Princess Academy is Miri. Miri is small, caring, honest, and at the beginning kind of shy and self conscious. At the end she becomes confident, smart, and a leader. Another character is Britta. Britta is from the "lowlands" (which is what people on Mount Eskel call people who live in the rest of the country) and came to Mount Eskel to marry the prince. She is smart, pretty when she smiles, kind, and a good friend to Miri. Peder is the boy who loves Miri. He has blond hair and likes to carve things in stone. Peder is kind-hearted, brave, and is popular among the younger generation in Mount Eskel. 

The Princess Academy  is a great book and is worth reading. The story has a good plot and keeps you interested in it with quick exciting parts in the story and at the ends of the chapters. It is well written and I like the authors voice. You will also tend to like this book better if you are a girl. One inspiring quote from the Princess Academy that comes up repeatedly is "Truth is when your mind and your gut agree.” I hope you enjoy this book.




MLA Citations- 

Hale, Shannon. The Princess Academy. New York: Bloomsbury, 2005. Print.


I got my picture at:  http://bookhavenextraordinaire.blogspot.com/2012/03/princess-academy.html

City of Ember

 



The City of Ember is a book by Jeanne DuPrau. It starts out on assignment day, which is where twelve year olds are assigned jobs. Lina, the main character, gets pipe works which is the job she wanted the least. Doon, another main character gets messenger. Doon wanted pipe works as his job because he knew Ember (the underground city) was falling. He wanted to help, but unfortunately he couldn't find out how. When Lina finds an old torn up document chewed up by her siter, Doon and Lina team up to find the way out of Ember. When they finally uncode the document, they make a plan for all of Ember to get out. Unfortunately, their plan goes wrong and Lina, Doon, and Lina's little sister are the only ones who escape to find the Earth's surface.

The theme of this book is survival. Ember is falling, and it is a constant race for survival. The lights keep going out which reminds everyone that Ember could fall, and it would be very hard to survive. "The darkness seemed to fill not just the city around her but the inside of her head as well."(DuPrau 79) The food sources in Ember were low as well which caused the citizens to stock up their pantries for their survival. Lina and Doon are trying to find a way out of Ember for a better chance of survival. As you can see, survival is a reoccurring theme in this book.

There are two main characters in the City of Ember. Lina is the first character. She has dark hair, long legs, and wears her red messenger jacket around town proudly. She loves her little sister, Poppy, and she likes to run. She is nice and has a carefree attitude. Doon is the second main character. Doon is stubborn and he gets angry a lot, but he is also alert, resourcful, nice, and smart. Doon loves his father and likes to collect bugs. Those are the two main characters in this book.

I really enjoyed the City of Ember and I would reccomend it to other middle schoolers. The plot keeps you interested and has characters that are realistic. The adventure in this book is what kept me reading. You would like this book if you like action, mystery, adventure, and survival stories. Even if you don't really like those words listed above, you still will probally like this book. It's also pretty easy to read.


Citations-

DuPrau, Jeanne.  The City of Ember. New York: Random House Books, 2003. Print

I got my picture at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_City_of_Ember

From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs.Basil E. Frankweiler

 

From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg starts out with a girl named Claudia. Claudia decides to runaway with her brother, Jamie, to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They leave quickly and decide that they will only runaway for a few weeks. They have a great time living in the art museum. Then one day Claudia sees a statue of an angel that holds a secret. The angel had a possibility of being made by Michael Angelo and the museum was trying to find proof. Claudia (being fascinated with the statue) tries to figure it out on her own. They look around for a while, but when it becomes clear an answer won't come up, they decide to go see Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler who sold the statue to the museum. When they got there Mrs. Frankweiler tells them that the answer is in her files and they can only know the answer if they can find it. They finally find it and learn that the angel was made by Michael Angelo. They agree to keep it a secret and they go back to there home later to decide they will visit Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler again soon.

The themes of this book are adventure and mystery. Claudia and Jamie leave home for adventure and they find that living in the museum is quite adventurous also. Quickly the mystery of the angel arises. Whether or not the statue was made by Michael Angelo was quite the mystery for Claudia. They try to solve it by researching in the library, looking around the museum (which was also pretty adventurous), and visiting Mrs. Frankweiler at the end of the book. At Mrs. Frankweiler's house, the mystery and adventure of digging around the files for the answer to the angel mystery happens to. That is why the  themes of this book are adventure and mystery.

The two main characters in this book are Claudia and Jamie. Claudia is smart, a little bossy, and likes the comforts of life. She likes hot fudge sundaes once a week, showers, warm beds, and clean clothes. When they stay at the museum for a few days, it becomes clear that this kind of active adventure is not her thing. At the end of the book it is revealed that Claudia's type of adventure is secrets. Secrets have mystery, excitement, and they make people wonder what you know which makes you have a higher status. The book says, "She didn't like discomfort; even picnics were untidy and inconvenient: all those insects and the sun melting the icing on the cupcakes. Therefore, she decided that her leaving home would not be just running from somewhere but would be running to somewhere."In conclusion, Claudia is very precise and neat. Jamie's character is a little opposite from his sister, Claudia. He doesn't mind being dirty or a little cold. He likes adventure. Jamie is also smart and has lots of money which are the two reasons why Claudia picked him for running away. He is the typical annoying little brother who argues with Claudia  for some time of the book. When the two characters learn how each other work, they start to get along better.

I would recommend this book to everyone, but some adults and teens might not like it as much. It is more a children's book but good enough to at least give it a try. I would consider it as a classic. The conflicting characters are interesting and sometimes funny. The plot is intriguing and the whole thing has this indescribable happy feeling. It's kind of like a happy glow. It's cute and fun to read. It's also easy to read. You will really like From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.

MLA Citations-

Konigsburg, E.L. From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs.Basil E. Frankweiler. New York: Atheneum, 1967. Print.

I got my picture at:  http://www.alibris.com/booksearch?qwork=2477149

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Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

 

  Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins, is the second book after the Hunger Games. It starts out with Katniss in district twelve after she Peeta won the Hunger Games in the first book. Then the president of Panem (Katniss' Country) comes and tells Katniss not to start any uprisings on the district tour. She fails and starts and uprising in District 11. Then she comes home to find that she has to go to the Hunger Games again, but with all the past living victors They go, and then at the soon end of the games, Katniss breaks the force field banner around the arena. Then all of a sudden a UFO from district 13 picks her up and some of the other tributes. They fail to get Peeta which makes Katniss very angry. Then Katniss finds out  at the very end that they were going to district 13 and that her home district had been distorted.
     I think the theme of this book is survival. I think this because Katniss is trying to get Peeta to survive throughout the whole book. At the beginning of the book  Katniss and Haymich decide to get Peeta out of the games alive. IN the middle, Katniss is very concerned about Peeta's survival, especially when he almost dies from the force field. At the end, Katniss is worried about Peeta's survival when he didn't make it onto the UFO. That's why I think the theme of this book is survival.
     I would recommend this book to any person who liked the first book, The Hunger Games. It is very exciting just like The Hunger Games. I enjoyed Catching Fire just as much as I did the first one. I hope you read this book and like it a lot.


I got my picture at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catching_Fire

The Hunger Games

      The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, starts out with Katniss Everdeen going to the woods to hunt food for her Sister and Mother. After a successful hunt, Katniss returns home to get ready to go to the drawing for the Hunger Games. Her younger sister gets picked to go, but Katniss volunteers for her so she won't have to go. Katniss goes to the Hunger Games with a boy named Peeta Mellark, along with many other girls and boys from different districts. Soon the Hunger Games begin and her chances are very good. She teams up with Peeta and together they win the Hunger Games. Except now, the capitol is mad at them because they refused to kill each other. Katniss and Peeta start to go home and hope the capitol won't punish them. Then the book ends just as they are about to enter town.


      I think the theme of this book is survival because Katniss is trying to survive throughout the whole book. At the beginning of the book, Katniss had to go hunting so she and her family could survive. In the middle of the book, Katniss had to survive the Hunger Games so she could go home and help her family. Even at the end of the story she had to pretend to be in love so she could survive against the angry government. That's why I think the theme of this story is survive.

      I would recommend this book to anyone. People who like action packed stories and people who don't read much will like it a lot. That's because the plot is always getting more interesting and exciting every minute. When I was reading it, I couldn't get my nose out of it. That's why I recommend the Hunger Games to anyone.

I got my picture at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunger_Games