Eragon

Did you ever think you would find a dragon when you were little?  Eragon was a smart boy and never thought it would happen.  That all changed when a young farm boy came across this shiny blue rock.  He brought it into his room for a few days.  Then one night he heard a little bit of pounding, he turned on the lights and looked to see what the heck was going on.  And a baby dragon appeared.  

My favourite character is Saphira, Eragon’s dragon, because she is always there to help Eragon.  She is very motherly to Eragon.  Although Saphira is younger than Eragon she still acts older because she is larger.  Also Saphira is very protective to Eragon.  For example, Saphira never let Eragon go to war but he did any way.  Saphira would be a great pet dragon to have!

My favourite part of the book was when Eragon made Brisinger, his sword.  This was my favourite part because I thought it was funny how he cursed; and subsequently, his sword caught on fire.  This book gave me many laughs besides this one.  Aside from the funnies, the book also had many tragic parts.  One time was when two of Eragon’s teachers died.  One after another, just like dominoes.  Another tragic part was when King Galbortox killed millions of people in the war.  Simultaneously, Eragon’s sword broke.  There were many funny moments along with tragic ones. 

  This book was a really good book, good enough for me to read the rest of the books in the series.  The book had so many enjoyable laughs.  Even though the book was gory I would rate it on a scale of one to ten a ten.  So if I were you I’d go to the local library and get it now!

The Alchemist

     I read the alchemist this summer because I heard it was a nice classic.  I enjoyed reading it when the parts got interesting.  For example, when Santiago was turning himself into the wind.  However, I didn't like the parts that were very philosophical.  For example, when Santiago is discussing the omens.  I think this may be a book worth reading depending on ones interests.  

    My favorite character was probably the merchant because he was the most simple yet slightly complex.  The only times he was ever complex was when he was talking about his religion, Muslim.  However, one reason I enjoyed his simplexes was because he was the one character that didn't feel solid.  It felt like I could mold him any way I wanted.  For example, if I wanted to I could make him a businessman making a living off of selling crystals as merchandise.  Even though the crystal merchant was my favorite character, all of them were very intriguing.  

                 My favorite part of the story is when Santiago is crossing the dessert with the Alchemist.  I liked this especially because I had never really seen an Alchemist before in a book.  It was funny for me because when I thought of an Alchemist, somebody who can turn lead into gold, as somebody who isn’t greedy.  I was also surprised when the Alchemist had so much to do with Personal Legends, a goal that somebody or something wishes to achieve.  I enjoyed all of the surprises there were in the book for me. 

         Even though, on a scale of 1-10 I would rate it a 5, I would say it is worth reading.  Even though it may have a slow start, a 5 is good enough to power through until the end.  Hope you like it!  

The Homework Machine

I set up some character quotes from the book to change it up a little.

Douglas, Judy

Page 5: “This is so unfair.  I have only straight A’s and I’m in the G&T program.  That is for gifted and talented.  I would never break the law or do any-thing dishonest.  Things just got out of control.  The next thing we new we had to go talk to the police.  Do you have any idea on how humiliating this en-tire ordeal has been for me?  Do you know how upset my parents were when they found out?  And now this is going on my permanent record, probably for the rest of my life.  If this keeps me out of law school someday, I will be so angry.  I’ll sue.”

Page 28: “If he really did have a machine that did homework for you, I wanted to see it.  I work so hard on homework and Brenton still gets better grades than I do.  I wanted to see the tricks he was using.”

Page 79: “By January, we were using belch every-day.  I had stopped doing my homework on my own entirely.  I never thought about doing my homework that way any more.  It was so much easier using belch.”

Page 126: “Finally I couldn’t take it any more.  I grabbed the plug and just yanked it out of the wall.”

Judy is a fifth grader who is at a school near the Grand Canyon.  Judy gets assigned a seat with three other kids.  The three kids names are: Brenton Kelsey, and Sam (who gets called Snik).  There group section is named the D squad.  Judy starts off liking school and school work and turns into a

Teachers pet.  Once Judy learns about the homework machine she feels a little unsure about using the homework machine but after a couple times she begins to like using the homework mach-ine. 

Damagatchi, Brenton

Page 6: “It’s interesting how something’s happen sometimes.  If I line up ten dominoes and I push over the first one all the others will fall one by one.  But if I leave the first one alone the other dominoes remain standing.  Life is like that.  The way your life lays out depends on which dominoes you leave alone.  In this case we just pushed over the wrong domino.”

Page 23-24: “It was a mistake on my part.  I allowed my emotions govern my behavior.  … I suppose I didn’t appreciate Snik making fun of me.  But it was a fatal blunder on my part to have told him about the homework machine.  I accept full responsibility. 

Page 44: There was one thing I never told anyone.  Shortly after I started using the homework machine for my own purposes, I received a mysterious e-mail.  It was from somebody who would like to meet me.  That’s all it said.  At the bottom it had a name: R. Milner.  … He could have been crazy, or a child molester, or whatever.  I ignored the message.

Page 120-121: “I guess I can admit this now.  I was the one who called the police hotline, and I leaked the item into the school newspaper.  This is what I told them, and this was the truth.  I had given it a lot of thought.  It may not have been morally wrong for me to use belch for my homework, but it was mor-ally wrong for Snik and Kelsey to use it as a crutch.  It was morally wrong for me to break the agreement we had made.  But it would also have been morally wrong for me not to break the agreement and let them continue using Belch.  It was a lose-lose situation.  … In that regard, I am a coward

Brenton is a fifth grader that goes to the same school that Judy, Snik, and Kelsey go to.  Brenton is also part of the D squad.  Brenton wears a button down shirt, long pants no matter how hot it was, and he would even sometimes where a tie!  Brenton started out using the homework machine in Sept-ember but then accidentally spilled the beans to Snik.  Snik started bullying Brenton when Judy and Kelsey over heard.  Brenton seemed to be quite anti-social at the beginning of the book but then it seems like he made three friends.  

Dawkins, Sam

Page 3-4: “My name is Sam Dawkins, but every-body calls me Snikwad on the account of that’s my last name spelled backward.  Dawkins.  Snikwad.  … Most kids call me ‘Snik.’  It’s kinda cool.  … My parents moved here from Oregon.  My dad is in the air force and that’s why we moved to Arizona.  He was assigned to Luke Air Force Base near Phoenix.  The bottom line is, we messed up.  Stuff happens.  We are not perfect.  We all feel bad.  We won’t do it again.  What are you gonna do throw us in jail or something….  What do you need more than that?  Details?”

Page 15: “Let me think.  First impressions?  Judy: stuck up.  Kelsey: A loser.  Brenton: A mutant dork from another planet.  I was the only cool one.”

Page 27: Judy’s quote.  “I told Snik to leave Bren-ton alone.  But he wouldn’t.  He pestered him all the way out to the playground.  It was really mean.  Snik is one of those kids who don’t know when to stop.  He’ll do something mean… and you tell him to stop it, but he’ll keep doing it.  Then you raise your voice a little and you say stop it and he keeps doing it.  And then finally you shout at him ‘STOP IT!’ and he acts like, ‘Whoa! You don’t have to SHOUT.’  But you do have to shout.  Because if you don’t shout, he doesn’t get the message.”

Page 142: “I tried to be cool about it, nut it was impossible.  My heart was jumping out of my chest.  I had just beaten Brenton Damagatchi, the kid who was so smart that he got every kid in America to where red socks to school!  If I can beat him, that means I’m pretty smart too.”

Satch and Me

There are three reasons I chose the book, Satch & Me.  The first reason I picked this book was because my brother, Benja read a book in this series and recommended it to me.  Another reason I chose this book was because it was short enough that I could read in the time given.  The final reason I chose this book was because I enjoyed the Homework Machine, another book by Dan Gutman. 

My favorite characters were Stosh (or Joey), Flip, and Satch.  Stosh, a thirteen-year-old boy, was a time traveler and a little league player.  Flip, a 72-year-old man, was a baseball coach, a drug store owner, and a baseball player.  Satch was a famous African-American baseball pitcher.  The reason these were my favorite characters is that their feelings and actions were described really well.  For example, Dan Gutman didn’t explain how   Laverne’s dad was feeling when he shot a gun towards them. 

The main dilemma in Satch & Me was that Stosh and Flip wanted to know who the fastest pitcher ever was.  Stosh and Flip ran into some more problems.  For example Flip and Stosh didn’t have a Satchel Paige baseball card.  Another reason is Flip and Stosh couldn’t find Satchel Paige in 1935.  The final problem is Laverne’s dad didn’t want Laverne dating Flip.   In the end Laverne’s dad shot the radar gun so they couldn’t find out who the fastest pitcher was. 

 This book made me wonder about some things.  This book made me wonder about how fast Satchel Paige could throw a baseball; how good was his aim; and how many different teams did he play for?  The book says he was really good at aiming the ball, or was that fact or fiction?  I think Satch could probably throw around 105mph well at least in the book he said he wasn’t even trying hard when he threw a 95mph, but again was that fact or fiction? 

 I probably would read more books by Dan Gutman.  Part of the reason I think I would read more books by Dan Gutman is because I like how he uses kid words.  Another reason I would pick a book by the same author is because he uses a lot of pictures. 

Honus & Me

There are three reasons I picked this book.  The first reason is it was short enough for me to read in a short period of time.  The second reason is my brother and I read a book, Satch and Me, in the series and really enjoyed.  The final reason is that I read The Homework Machine, a book by the same author, Dan Gutman, which I really liked.  I think my next book will be in the same series. 

I had two favorite characters.  One of my Favorite characters was Joey or better known as Stosh, a main character.  My other favorite character was Honus, another main character.  The reason Stosh and Honus are my favorite characters is because the story is based on them and it is hard to know what other people are doing.  Another reason is because they were both interested in Baseball.  I wonder who will be the main character in my next book. 

There was one main problem in the story, which was that Stosh was not a good baseball player.  When Stosh is cleaning one of his neighbor’s attics, he stumbles across a valuable Honus Wagner T-206 baseball card.  That night while holding the card, Stosh wishes he could meet Honus in real life.  Honus appears and tells Stosh, “The key to being a great baseball player is to trick yourself into thinking you are one.” Later in the book, Stosh is playing in the last game of his little league season.  It was bottom of the six^th, the last inning.  Stosh hits a triple and ends up stealing home. His team wins the game. Stosh has clearly improved as a baseball player. 

This book made me think about what it was like back in the past.  Was there slavery?  Was the World Series different?  Did Honus have an interesting life when he was a child?  I wonder were Dan Gutman gets all these facts. 

I think I would read more books by Dan Gutman.  I would do this because all the books I’ve read by him I have enjoyed.  Another reason I would enjoy another one of his books is because you can read out of order in the series and still get what is going on.  I also like how he has multiple mini plots.  For example when two women frame Stosh and Honus needs to get to the World Series in 1909.  Not like in Star Wars when Luke needs to defeat the evil Darth Vader. 

Georges Secret Key to the Universe

 One of my favorite parts of Georges Secret Key to the Universe’s jacket was, “Suddenly George is on a roller-coaster ride through the vastness of space…” The second reason is the book had an odd beginning, talking about pigs and how they vanish into nowhere.  I’m glad Evan showed the book to me.

My favorite characters were George, Eric and Annie.  One of the reasons is because they were the main characters and were around most often.  One thing I liked about George is that he was very curious like me.  George’s role in the story was as the kid that gets picked on, but more importantly some sort of ‘wonderer’.  Something I liked about Eric is that he was good with computers.  Eric was a scientist trying to find a new world for humans to inhabit.  One of the reasons Annie was one of my favorite characters is because she is always thinking on her feet.  For example, when her Dad got sucked up into a black hole she stayed on top of the situation.  Annie was the ‘answerer,’ a kid in a science fair and also George’s neighbor.  I wonder what it felt like for them to go into outer space.   

There were two main problems in the story.  One of the problems was when George told Dr. Reeper aka Greeper about Cosmos, the world’s most advanced computer.  Cosmos, could teleport you to any place in space or time.  Later on, George found out that Greeper was part of Eric’s alliance and got kicked off the alliance for trying to use Cosmos for evil purposes.  Then Greeper wanted revenge on the alliance.  As a result Greeper tricked Eric into going into a black hole.  I wonder if black holes really are eternal prisons. 

I had a few of questions as I was reading the book.  One of my questions is, how hot does it get on other planets?  Another one is, what is the average temperature on other planets.  The third question is, how cold does it get on other planets?  The final question is, are there any more planets in our galaxy?  I wonder what it would feel like to be on a different planet.

I might read more books by Lucy Hawking.  One of the reasons is because this book interested me.  Another reason is because it took it answered all my questions I often ask pester my parents with.  A reason I may not read another book by Lucy Hawking is because this book was so long took and it long time to read.  I found the book very interesting but I still don’t know if I’ll read another book by Lucy Hawking.