Bridge to Terabithia

Plot: this book is about a fifth grade boy named Jess Aarons. The books revolves around him and a tomboy named Leslie Burke, who moves next door to Jess and is in the same class. one day after school, they botth got off the bus and decided to go back to the woods together. while they were there, leslie wanted to make up a world of there own, she decided to call Terabithia. In this magical world, there were trolls, giants, and all sorts of magical creatures, but to get to this magical place, you need to jump through a rope over a big ditch. This magical pleace brought the 2 of them closer together until on big accident that seperates then forever. i recommend this book for both boys and girls.

Characters: the character i am choosing to describe is Leslie Burke.

• Leslie Burke- i chose to describe leslie because i liked the way the author made her different than everyone else, for example she showed that she was faster than all the boys, she didnt have a TV, her parents were stay-home artists, and she had a great imagination. i dont think i would change anything about leslie cause she was like the perfect character, i thought this because she was different.

Your thoughts: i really enjoyed reading this book because i liked the way most of the story took place in their imagination. Also i liked the way how Jess didnt become jealous of leslie when she beat him in the running race, but instead he became good friends with her. Since i saw the movie before i read the book, i saw the differences, which werent many. I didnt really like how the ending finshed because now they cant make a sequel.

Reading Strategies: the reading strategy i used the most was mental images. since the author used really good details, i could clearly see a movie in my head as i was reading the book. also, i could clearly see all the magical creatures in my head because even though they werent real the author described them really well. i also used a little bit of predicting in the end of the book.

Author information: the author of this book is Katherine Paterson, she was born in Qing Jiang, China. She later moved to Richmond, Virginia because of the Japanese Invasion. the genres she writes for are children and young adult novels, about 40 books including christmas stories, books translated into Russian and Japanese, non-fiction books, etc. she is a very good author cause she puts a lot of detail and creativity into her writing.

Lush

Plot: the main character in this book is an 8th grade girl name Samantha Gwynn. She lives with her mother, little brother, Luke, and alcoholic dad. She has 3 best friends; Angie, Vanessa, and Tracie. In beginning, Sam starts out by writing a letter to an unknown person, she slips it inside a book that hasnt been checked out in 13 years. The person who ends up receiving this letter is very unexpected, but helps her through a lot of things such as peer pressure, public humiliation, stress, family problems, and so on. I recommend this book for boys and girls, but mostly for girls.

Characters: the character i am going to describe is Samantha Gwynn.

• Samantha Gwynn- Sam is a young girl who is in middle school and deals with everyday problems and hears everyday gossip. I liked the way she tried to help her father by hiding the beer bottles and leaving inspirational messages. I dont like the way how she treated her father when she found him drunk, she used to yell at him and tell him that she wasnt ever going to forgive him even when he was begging his heart out. If i were in Sam's shoes, i dont think i would be able to survive one day at school or at home, but they only thing i would definitely like about her life would be being able to live with such a cute little brother.

Your Thoughts: i really liked this book a lot, i definitely liked it more than Perfect; which was the other novel written by this same author. I think that Sam has seen and lived through some things that she should never see at that age. I like the way the author described Samantha's feelings so clearly and showed what it was like to be in middle school and be stuck in the middle of lies and drama. this was a VERY good book, i cant wait to read the third novel Natasha F. has written.

Reading Strategies: In this book i definitely used mental images. the most vivid picture in my mind was when Luke spilled his grape and cranberry juice all of the Feingold blueprints and his dad cracked the empty bottle of Jim Beam on Luke's little face and blood & glass was everywhere. I had many other lively pictures and movies in my head, which helped me understand what Sam was going through in the setting of the book.

Author Information: the author of this great book is Natasha Friend, she lives in Boston with her husband and wo young kids. Before she became an amazing author she was a middle school teacher and a camp director. Her first novel, Perfect, was the winner of the Milkweed Prize for Children's Literature. She puts great detail into every single sentence.

Keeper of the Night

Plot: this book revolves around a very average family, but the only thing they are missing is the mother of the house. The main character, Isabel, is now in charge of her brother (Frank), her little sister (Olivia) and her father. They live in the small village of Guam, where everyone knows everyone, and no news is not heard. Isabel goes through a lot of problems, which she shouldnt ever have to go through. this book was very good and i recommend it for girls only. oh and also, this book is about suicide, pain/loss, and family struggles.

Characters: the character i am choosing to describe is Isabel.

~Isabel- she is very mature for her age of 12, she cares for her siblings almost as well as a full grown woman would. i love the way Isabel is so sweet and kind to her sister even though she wakes up every night with a nightmare and wets her bed. I also love the way how she comforts her father probably just like her mother would. i dont like the way how isabel acted when roman, her 12 year old neighbor came and asked her a question, but all she did was roll her eyes and walk away with a heaving sigh.

Your thoughts: this book was very good in many ways, the best way was because it showed me how families live when they are motherless. i like the way the author gave isabel so much responsibilty in the book, and she handled it so well. i also like how the author used Guam as the setting but made it seem as if she was living in the older times of the United States. the only question i have is if i wonder of Kimberely Willis Holt ever went to Guam herself or ever exeriences living without a mother.

Reading Strategies: in this book i used a lot of summarizing, such as like when isabel's friend was running for fiesta queen, so many things were happening. another reading strategy i used was using post-its, like i used a post-it when i didnt understand what the word or phrase meant. in this book i didnt use mental images as a reading strategy because the author didnt make the details to big so it was hard to imagine anything but what i thought of as dust.

Author Information: Kimberly Willis Holt is an American children's book writer, she had written many other nivels for kids besides this one. she won a National Book Award for her novel, When Zachary Beaver Came to Town. Kimberly was born in Florida and currently lives in Texas.

Perfect

Plot: this book is about Isabelle Lee, a thirteen year old girl, in eighth grade. Isabelle's father died a few years ago, causing her mother not to pay much attention to what goes on with Isabelle or her younger sister April. One day, April (aka Ape Face) caught Isabelle forcing herself to throw up in the bathroom. As soon as Isabelle heard that she had to attend counseling, she hated it not to mention it was supposed to be a good “surprise”. One day, she was at Group and in walks Ashley Barnum, the most popular and prettiest girl in the whole entire eighth grade. Isabelle could not believe she actually came to therapy, she immediately thought, “why?” they are now really good friends, not to mention Isabelle finds out that Ashley is bulimic, just like her. After that day, Ashley has invited Isabelle to come and sit with her at lunch and sleepover once in a while.

Characters: the character i am choosing to describe is Isabelle Lee.

• Isabelle- isabelle is an 8th grade girl who lives with her motherand younger sister April. After her dad died, she thought that binging and purging was going to solve her depression. I dont like how Isabelle sees one person, and gets very judgemental and just starts critisizing. Also, Isabelle has a very low self-esteem towards herself, for example one of the games in Group was to describe yourself and seh said she had fat, chubby legs. if i were to change one thing about isabelle, it would be the way she turns to problems.

Your Thoughts: Perfect was a very good book for many reasons. the main reason is cause i could feel how Isabelle was feeling the whole time. the author made me feel as if i were Isabelle and that i was attending Group and i was friends with Ashley Barnum. I have realized that most of the books i have read, the authors have described the settings very well.

Reading Strategies: in this book i used mental images as the reading strategy. One of the pictures i imagined was when Isabelle was in the car with her mother and April, and her mother was trying to convince to get out of the vehicle and go to Group. I also imagined how she slumped and slouched out of the car and into the first avaliable chair in the room.

Author Information: the author of this book is Natasha Friend, she lives in Massachusetts with her husband Erik and baby, Jack. Perfect is her first novel, but she has also written two more novels; Lush and Bounce.

The Fortune Tellers

Plot: This book takes place in West Africa, near Cameroon, where a young, sorrowful carpenter is tired of hammering and sawing, and wants to find good advice to help him. One day, he hears that a grand fortune teller has come to the bordering town, which helps answer some very interesting questions he has. He asks a series of questions, in which the answers are so general that anyone could have answered. On his midway point home, he forgot to ask one question, but when he goes back the Fortune Teller is gone. He ends up making his own booth and answering peoples questions as his new career.


Characters: the character i am choosing to describe is the carpenter, who seems to not have a name.

• Carpenter- this young man has been carpenting his whole life and just now decided to become a fortune teller out of every job possible. i dont think that the answers the fortune teller gave him were very helpful, but they definitely helped him in life. The character, i found, was a bit strange because he asked very general questions.

Your thoughts: in my opinion, i didnt like this book at all. i thought it was pointless and it didnt make much sense to me. i thought this because the book was so short, that the author didn't get to put nuch detail into the book. I may not have liked the book, but i liked the way the illustrator drew the pictures in the background using great detail.

Reading Stratergies: in this book, i didnt use any reading strategies.

Author Information: the author of this book is Lloyd Alexander. He grew up in Pennsylvania, but he was raised in Dexel Hills. He has written over 40 books, most of which are under the genre of fantasy. He passed away last year in Pennsylvania.

Pink and Say

Plot: this book is about two 15 year old boys; Sheldon Russell Curtis, a white boy, and Pinkus Aylee, an african american boy. It takes place during the Civil War times. One day, Pinkus, otherwise known as "Pink", found Sheldon, otherwise known as "Say" wounded in the fields, he gives him some water and brings him home to his momma for "healing." This story is passed on from generation from generation, until it gets to the author herself. This book is a short picture book, which i reccommend for all ages.

Characters: the character i am choosing to describe is Sheldon Russell Curtis.

• Sheldon- i picked to describe Sheldon because i liked the way how he helped a fellow soldier in need. I also like how his mother, Moe Moe Bay, helped him also, and treated him as family. He was a very kind boy, and sadly at the end, gets seperated from Pink.

Your thoughts: this book was sort of boring until the end. I liked the end because the last picture was the two hands touching, which had a strong meaning. Even though the book was short, you could have probably kept writing about the hand touching lincoln for a whole chapter book. i also like how the illustrator used plain colors for the pictures, yet they were so eye-capturing.

Reading Strategies: in this book i used predicting as the main reading strategy. For example, i predicted that Pink and Say would eventually be seperated, but i didnt really know why. since the book was short, there wasnt much to predict about but otherwise i also used connections; text-to-text and text-to-world.

Author Information: The author of this book is Patricia Polacco, she was born in Lansing, Michigan. Patricia won about 18 awards during the course of her life as an author, and also wrote about 47 books. She spent most of her childhood in Union City, Michigan which is where she got told the story about Mr. President Lincoln. One of the books she has written called Thank You, Mr. Falker, is about the outcomes of her life because she had trouble reading until the age of 14 because of dyslexia.

Flawless

Plot: This book is about a group of 4 girls; Aria Montgomery, Hannah Marin, Spencer Hastings, and Emily Fields. They all live in the upper class town of Rosewood, Pennsylvania. This book is the sequel to Pretty Little Liars, which was a very good book also. In this hardcover, the girls get into a very dangerous situation, which has to do with the mysterious "A". This book wraps up and ends in one location, at a charity dinner party called Foxy. I recommend this book for girls only.

Characters: the character i am choosing to describe is Toby Cavanaugh.

• Toby Cavanaugh- Toby used to live in Rosewood and go to the very same school as Aria, Hannah, Spencer and Emily, except after the whole Jenna Thing, he was forced to go to Tate Boarding School. He now comes back to Rosewood for the charity dinner called Foxy, and takes Emily as his date. When they first introduced Toby to the book he seemed like a nice sweet boy, but by the end of the story he is a malicious person.

Your Thoughts: I really liked this book because it explained how gossip and karma hurts. This book definitely had more drama and mystery than the first book for many different reasons, one being that Toby came back to Rosewood for a few days. I thought that in this book it was going to revolve around The Jenna Thing and not "A" and his/her text messages, but instead it talked about both. I can't wait to read the last 2 books in the series.

Reading Strategies- While reading this book i used many strategies, one of then main ones i used was mental images. In every single book i read i always use mental images, but especially in these books. I love how Sara Shepard puts a whole lot of detail into every chapter, even though each chapter is about 8 pages. i also used summarizing and predictions.

Author Information- The author of this book is Sara Shepard. Sara is from tuscan, Arizona and graduated from colleges and universities in New York. This whole series was motivated byher upbringing in Philadelphia's Main Line. She is one of the best authors yet, except for Lemony Snicket.

Who Put That Hair in My Toothbrush

Plot: the main characters of this book are siblings Megin and Greg. These two dont get along like brothers and sisters should, instead they fight and pull pranks on each other. They each have different goals in life, for example, Greg has committed his whole summer to make himself good enough for Jennifer Wade. meanwhile Megin, had to deal with showering before the first day of school without having the water change from hot to cold every two seconds. This books talks about the struggles of brothers and sisters.

Characters: the character i am choosing to describe is Greg Tofer.

• Greg Tofer- i chose to describe greg because i thought it was very manly of him to dedicate his whole summer trying to look good for one girl. for example he ordered a yearly subscription of body building magazines, he does about 100 sit ups everyday, and he went to the beach every sunny day to tan his skin. if there were one thing i would change about greg it would be the way he treats his sister because Megin is the only sister he has for the time.

Your Thoughts: i thought this book was funny because i didnt ever think that a brother could be so mean to his sister. i had one question going through my head the whole time i read this book, did the author have a brother like Greg? another thing i liked about this book was the cover and title of this book, the cover actually inspired me to read this book.

Reading Strategies: the reading strategy i used in this book is predicting. the first prediction i made was that something bad was going to Megin because the beginning line of the book was "it started while i was washing my hair: someone flushed the toilet and the shower turned scalding hot." i also predicted that greg was going to use another person to annoy Megin. sometimes i also used mental images.

Author Information: the author of this book is Jerry Spinelli, he was born in Pennsylvania. he has won two Newbery Awards. he first decided he wanted to become a writer at the age of 16, when his high school football team won a big game. he first started writing adult books but since they didnt get published he started writing childrens novels. I have read many of his books because they are very good.

Pretty Little Liars

Plot: the main characters in this book are 5 high school juniors; Alison DiLaurentis, Aria Montgomery, Emily Field, Hannah Marin, and Spencer Hastings. They were BFF's until one day at Spencer's house, Alison was being mean and was asked to leave the house and not come back again. About a week later, they realized that Alison had gone missing and had no idea of where she could be, even after the police had thoroughly interviewed each and every girl she knew. Three years later, the girls barely talk to one another, but are now all getting strange text messages/emails/letters from "A", an unknown person. I recommend this book mostly for girls and/or people who like gossip.



Characters: The character i am choosing to describe i Spencer Hastings and Emily Fields.

• Spencer Hastings- Spencer is very athletic and smart. In school, a boy named Andrew Campbell has always wanted to beat Spencer grade-wise, but hasn't yet won. When Spencer receives the text messages, she thinks that A stands for Andrew. If i were to change something about Spencer it would be the way she treats her family and the way she thinks about her older and smarter sister, Melissa.

Your thoughts: i really liked this book because the characters reminded me of people in my school. It made me think how they think of themselves: beautiful, well-known, and the best. I also liked the way the author made each characters situation different, but ended up bringing them together by one text message. I am so excited to read the next 3 books in the series.

Reading Strategies: I used summarizing a lot in this book for many reasons. One of the reasons is because each chapter goes in a pattern talking about a different character each chapter. When i read one chapter i try to summarize what i just read so when read the next chapter about that same person, i will know what happened before.I also made predictions, but only sometimes because it was ard to make predictions about the situation.

Author Information: the author of this book is Sara Shepard, who currently lives in Tuscan, Arizona. She graduated from New York University and has an MFA in Creative Writing from Brooklyn College. This series of books was inspired by her upbringing in Philadelphia's Main Line. I love the way Sara puts so much detail into each and every sentence, amking us feel as if we were there.

Private

Plot: this book is about a sophomore named Reed Brennan, who lives in the wonderful town of Easton. She just got a full scholarship to attend Easton Academy, a very high-class boarding school. While her stay here, she aims to become one of the Billings Girls, these girls are the most popular girl in school and usually succeed very well in life. Reed goes through a lot of stress in her regular home, especially with her mother who is a pill-addict. By the end of the book, Reed has a change in personality, appearance, and mentality. I recommend this book for teen girls.

Characters: I am choosing to describe Noelle Lange.

• Noelle Lange- Noelle is the "leader" of the Billings Girls, she is the most beautiful girl in her grade and the most well-known girl on campus. If i were to change about her it would be her attitude. I would change this because she has a VERY high self-esteem, and makes everyone feel bad thinking that they are not "cool" cause they are not her.

Your thoughts: i liked this book in the beginning, but then towards the end it got a bit choppy and i lost track of where we were. Also the chapters were long and didnt have cliffhangers, so it didnt make me want to finish the book, but i did anyway. i definitely recommend this book for girls and people who want to know what it is like to take risks for others.

Reading Strategies: in this book i didnt really use much reading strategies, but i did use a bit of predicting. Most of the predictions i made were wrong because the book was very unorganized. This book had 6 other books in this series, which i havent even tempted to read.

Author Information: the author of this book is Kate Brian, she lives with her husband in New Jersey. she was educated in Rutgers University. Kate has written many other young-adult books auch as Sweet 16, Fake Boyfriend, and The Princess and the Pauper. This is the first book of the Private series.

Stanford Wong Flunks Big Time

Plot: this book is about a 12 year old boy named Standford, who lives in Rancho Rosetta with his mother and father. Stanford is one of the best basketball players in his grade, he is on the Rancho Rosetta basketball team. He might be good at basketball, but he has just failed 6th grade english which means he has to go to summer school. Since summer school os for "losers/nerds" he decides on not telling his friends and acting like he has to work for his dad's office. His not-so-sociable father, actually made a study "date" with a very good friend named Millicent Min. Stanford ends up passing summer school, becoming really good friends with both Millicent and his Language Arts teacher. i recommend this book for boys and girls.

Characters: the character i am choosing to describe is Emily Ebers.

• Emily Ebers- Emily is one of Millicent's closest friend, and that one day she sees her in the library with Stanford changed his life forever. As Stanford described her, she has crystal brown eyes and silky brown hair. The one thing i didnt like about Emily is that one time she was getting ice cream with Stanford and when she went to go pay, instead of paying with cash she payed with her very own credit card. Even though she didnt brag about it, i found it uneccesary to have her show it off.

Your thoughts: i thought this book was for mostly boys in the beginning because all Stanford and his friends talked about was basketball and how they were gonna get muscular this summer. But towards the end when the author introduces Emily, it turns into a cute, true-love story, which is sorta girly. My favorite part of the book was when suddenly, the author made Stanford turn rebelious and he dyed the tips of his hair purple.

Reading Strategies: the reading strategy i used in this book was predictions. the first prediction i made was that in the beginning, i knew Stanford was going to become friends with Millicent and pass English. Also, i knew that Stanford was going to get caught in his own lie, when he didnt tell his friends about going to summer school.

Author Information: the author of this book is Lisa Yee. She was born and raised in Los Angeles. She was a student at University of South Carolina. She has written Millicent Min: Girl Genius, Stanford Wong Flunks Big Time, and So Totally Awesome Emily Ebers, all these books are part of a trilogy.

Gilda Joyce: The Ghost Sonata

Plot: this book is about a 2 ninth grade girls who take a wild adventure to Oxford, England. The two main characters are Gilda Joyce and Gwendolyn Choy, otherwise known as Wendy. Wendy is a great piano player, which is why she qualified to play at the Young International Vitruosos Piano Competition in England. Gilda ends up being Wendy's official page-turner, getting her a spot on the plane to travel to Oxford in which she has been wanting to go for many reasons. During the time the girls are there, Wendy gets strange messages from a ghost and is being haunted by the number 9. By the end of the book, the ending will be different then what you expected, but it is still a good book for everyone.


Characters: the character i am choosing to describe is Gwendolyn Choy.

• Gwendolyn Choy- Wendy is a ninth grade student who lives in Michigan, with her parents. She has great talent in playing the piano and has exceptional grades in school. Her parents are always expecting great things form her which puts a lot of pressure on Wendy causing her to always be stressed out. If i were to change something about Wendy it would be her attitude, she is never happy and has a low self-esteem.

Your Thoughts: i loved this book because it was full of mystery and cliffhangers. The Gilda Joyce series is great because Gilda is always in a strange situtation and ends up getting out of it by using the strange books she reads. I also love how Jennifer Allison used real English language to describe the setting and the people. I also like how she makes Gilda different than everyone else and shows that it is okay to be unique, which sends a good message to young kids.

Reading Strategies: in this book i used a lot of mental imagining and making predictions. Since the chapters ended in cliffhangers, i always tried to guess what would happen next, but since Jennifer Allison is such a good author she changes it up. I also use a lot of mental imagery because as i said before Jennifer gives great detail and makes is feel as if we were there in Gilda's shoes. Jennifer also says how the characters are feeling; nervous, mad, upset, happy, fustrated, etc.

Author Information: The author is Jennifer Allison, who has only written teh Gilda Joyce series. She grew up in Michigan but now lives in Washington D.C with her husband and son, Max. I absolutely loved how she made us feel in the characters postion by showing detail in how they feel and think. I hope she continues writing more Gilda Joyce books or other mystery books.

Stargirl

Plot: this book is about a 10th grade girl named Stargirl Caraway. She is very friendly and happy. She is a little unusual because she carries a ukulele around with her and strums it at lunch. She is also unusual because she shows up at stranger's funerals and cheers for the opposing basketball team. This book teaches a lesson that everyone should follow which is to always be yourself and never change. This is what made Stargirl better than everyone else. I recommend this book to everyone and of all ages too.

Character Description: the characters i am choosing to describe are Stargirl and Leo Borlock.

• Stargirl- she is the new student at Mica High. She has been homeschooled for 10 years nad is now going to a real high school where she isn't accepted very well. i like Stargirl because even though she is different she doesn't change or try to act different. i don't think i would like to be in Stargirl's shoes, especially on the first day of school. I say this because she was wearing like her Grandma's wedding gown and had a large canvas with a sunflower on it as her lunch bag. All i can say is that Stargirl is unique.
• Leo- he is an 11th grader who has an in-school T.V show called Hot Seat. When he first sees her, he thinks she is a complete weirdo just because she doesn't dress like everybody else and plays a different instrument. I like Leo because even though he think Stargirl is weird, he doesn't say anything mean to her, but what ends up happening is that he falls in love and is eventually known as "Starboy." Leo is not a bad student or a jock, whichmeans he is nice and mellow.

Your Thoughts: i thought this book was very good, but at the beginning it was slow. In this book there is a prologue, which doesn't make sense until the very end of the book. I like the way the author made the narrator one of Stargirl's classmates, this classmate was Leo Borlock. I liked it because since he went to school with Stargirl, it made me feel as if i was there too. This book was one fo the best books i have read and i can't wait to read the sequel, Love, Stargirl.

Reading Strategies: the reading strategy i used was making connections. I used this strategy by making text-to-self connections. The connections i made were like cheering for the opposing sport's team, being made fun of and having someone think your weird but still be your friend. I can also make a text-to-text connection. the book i can make a connection to is Gingerbread by Rachel Cohn. The songle connection i can make is that they are both different from the average person. This is not always a bad thing.

Author Information: the author of this book is Jerry Spinelli. He graduated from Gettysburg College and now lives with his wife, Eileen, in Pennsylvania. He has written many other novels such as Maniac Magee, Loser, Wringer, etc. He has won a Newbery Honor Award for his novel Crash and Knots in my Yo-Yo String. I like the way he put a prologue in the book.

Gingerbread

Plot: this book is about a 16 year old girl named Cyd Charisse. She has only met her real father, Frank, once and her goal in life is to reunite with him. She lives in San Francisco with her mom, brother, sister, and stepdad. She recently broke up with her boyfriend, Shrimp, because he wanted his own space for a while. She is rebelious which is why she got kicked out of boarding school and is boyfriendless and friendless. She finds out she has a brother who is gay and a sister whom she doesn't get along with from her dad's side. In the end, this book is very good for all ages, but i recommend it for girls.

Character Description: the characters i am choosing to describe are Cyd Charisse and Shrimp.

**Cyd- she is 16 years old, but mature for her age. She definitely has an attitude, but she is the sweetest person with her younger brother Josh and her younger sister Ashley. I like Cyd because she isn't afraid to say what she means, but yet i don't like her because she doesn't try hard enough, isn't a bright student, and is sneaky around her parents. From what i see on the cover page, i can tell she is goth like because of all the black plus the high combat boots.

**Shrimp- he is Cyd's ex-boyfriend. He has an older brother named Wallace who works at a java shop called Java the Hut. To me he doesn't seem like the best boyfriend because he didn't really support Cyd or treat her very nicely which i guess means i don't like him very much. When i first saw his name i kept wondering why his parents named him Shrimp. Maybe if Shrimp talked more and showed more emotion, i would likke him better.

Your Thoughts: I thought this book was good, but since i am completely different than Cyd, it was hard to make any connections. This book wasn't was i expected it to be because when i read the back i thought she was living with her dad and didn't get along so well, but when i read the first 2 chapters i noticed that the book is called Gingerbread because the doll her dad gave her at the airport where they first met, was called Gingerbread and to Cyd it reminded her of that precious moment. I would give this book 4 stars.

Reading Strategies: the reading strategy i used was questioning. I questioned a lot in the book because it was very confusing at times. The first question i had was, "is Shrimp really his name?" because the first page talks all about him. I also asked questions like why did she name the doll Gingerbread? Why she is goth? does the divorce of her parents have to do by the way she dresses? and more. The author didn't include much detail and i didn't like the way she transitioned from one subject to another.

Author Information: the author of this book is Rachel Cohn. She grew up outside of Washington D.C, but now she lives in Manhattan. Gingerbread is her first novel she has written. She hasn't won any awards. I like the way the author used her personal experience in the book to describe what was going on. i liked this because i knew that this situation could really happen and it wasn't just a story about a girl who is mean and goth. Rachel has now written 2 more books that are a series with Gingerbread, they are called Shrimp and Cupcake.

The Chain Letter

Plot: this book is about a 12 year old girl named Olivia Mcfee, otherwise known as Livvie. One day Livvie and her best friend Joyce were rummaging through the mail and found an envelope made out to Olivia Mcfee, it was a chain letter, "Dear friend, this chain letter hasn't been broken in fifteen years! Don't break the chain! This letter began one hundred thousand years ago when it was scratched into stone by caveman! You will be a very bad, bad person if you don't send it to all your friends!" This letter leads to adventures both good and bad. The only way to stop this bad luck is to find out who sent the letter in the first place. This book is a mystery inside a mystery. I recommend this book for all ages.

Character Description: the characters i am choosing to describe are Olivia Mcfee and Joyce Pullman.

• Olivia- is a 12 year old girl who lives with her mom and her ancient chestnut-colored cat named Dr. Brown in the small town of St.Paul, Minnesota. Livvie, her nickname, has brown hair and brown eyes. Something I like about her is that she doesn't believe bad luck, just like her mother. Sometimes Livvie can be very mean,especially with Peter and Phil Finch. She and her best friend Joyce are like peanut-butter and jelly, they are always together.
• Joyce- is also 12 years old and lives with her mom and several of her younger siblings. Joyce is more mature than Livvie because Joyce knows how to do laundry, change a diaper, fix a broken T.V and much more. Joyce on the other hand is VERY superstitious, she believes that black cats, the number 13, mice, open umbrellas in indoor places, and ladders are bad luck. Every time Joyce gets mad at school she has to twirl every lock in that part of the hallway before going into class or on the streets she has to tap every streetlight on the way. They are both different, but the same when it comes to thinking.

Your thoughts: I thought this book was very good because it was a mixture of mystery and fiction. The book was pretty slow towards the beginning, but then near the end it was suspenseful. This book definitely had cliffhangers which i liked because it made me want to continue reading the book instead of putting down and not liking it. I sort of feel like Livvie in part of the story because whenever i get a chain letter, i just delete it because all they do is make you feel guilty if you don't answer it, just like it did in the book.

Reading strategies: The reading strategies i used to help me with this book were mental imaging and making connections. The one i used the most was mental images because this book was so descriptive, i could imagine all the details. I could imagine what Livvie looked like in her cast, what Joyce looked like in bed, what Livvie looked like when she found that she was being partnered up with Peter Finch, and what Mrs. Mcfee looked like when she was twirling the phone cord.

The next reading strategy i used was making connections. One of the main connections i made was with Livvie. The connection i made was when she spilled the hot chocolate, i knew the pain she felt. I am sure that most people have received a chain letter at least once and by the time they finished reading it they immediately wanted to begin responding. Most chain letters are now sent by e-mail so you know who started it because you can see the previous e-mail addresses, unlike if you get it by postal mail you don't have a return address at all.

Author Information: the author of this book was Julie Schumacher. She has written numerous short stories and only 2 bok for adults which includes The Body is Water. Her first novel, Grass Angel, was published by Delacorte Press. Julie lives with her husband and 2 daughters in the very town of St. Paul. She has won the ALA Notable Book of the Year.

Princess in the Spotlight

Plot: this fiction book is about a 14 year old girl named Amelia Mignonette Grimaldi Thermopolis Renaldo, otherwise known as Mia. Her best friend's name is Lilly Moscovitz. She lives with her artistic mom named Helen Thermopolis and her 25 pound, orange and white cat named Fat Louie. This book is the second book in the Princess Diaries series so this story continues where the first book left off. Mia is the princess of Genovia, a country in Europe, because her dad is the Prince. She is forced to take lessons to learn how to use a fish fork, speak in Swahili, and much more things that are insignificant to her and the world and tedious. Mia would much rather learn about overpopulation and gun control because she respects nature, is a vegetarian and worries about world issues. Anyway, her mom has just told Mia that she was pregnant, which was a good thing except there is one condition, it is Mia's algebra teacher's baby! All in all this book talks about Mia's life in school, her mom's secret marriage, and her torturous grandmother.
Character Description: the characters i am choosing to describe are Mia Thermopolis and Grandmere, Mia's grandma from her father's side.

• Mia- she is a freshman at Albert Einstein High School. She is five foot nine, size ten shoe, gray eyed, and short mouse-brown haired. She is not the smartest kid ever, especially in algebra which she gets tutored by Michael Moscovitz. I like Mia because even though she is a princess, she doesn't show off or brag to everybody at school. I know that Mia isn't good at being polite, but i still give her credit because she isn't "wild" like her best friend Lilly. I hope people in Genovia like Mia and will accept her politely in a new country.
• Grandmere- she is the queen of Genovia and grandmother of Mia. She is a rather critical women who has eyeliner permanently tattooed to her eyelids and dresses her hairless miniature poodle, Rommel, in chinchilla bolero jackets. I don't really like Grandmere because she is always in everybody's business. Plus, she is always pushing Mia to work harder and do things she doesn't want to do.

Your thoughts: I enjoyed this book because it was similar to the Princess Diaries movies except there were a few changes that made it different. I liked the way the author wrote the format of the book because it is like a journal so every time she writes a new entry it says the date, time and day of the week. There wasn't so much detail in this book which was okay because most of the "chapters" got to the point quickly. There weren't cliffhangers either which i was bothered by because i couldn't predict a lot. I couldn't make a lot of connections because most of the things she wrote about were about high school, girlfriends, and royal thrones. Overall, i liked it because it made me want to read the third book in the series.

Reading Strategies: i didn't really use any strategies that came of help to me. If i did use any i would choose summarizing because at the end of the book i summarized what i read so i knew what was going on when i read the third book. There wasn't much summarizing to do because when it was a new week in her journal, she summarized what happened last week. This was not a book in which i needed or used any strategies that is why i am stuck on what to write.

Author Information: the author's name is Meg Cabot. She has written several novels such as the Princess Diaries series, the Mediator series, All-American Girl, Teen Idol, Nicola and the Viscount and Victoria and the Rouge. The thing i liked bout this author is the way she shows Mia's feelings in a way that most girls do, through a journal. She resides in N.Y.C with her husvand and her one-eyed cat named Henrietta.

Ladies of the Lake

Plot: this book is the third book in the Gilda Joyce series. This time 13 year old Gilda Joyce gets a scholarship to go to an all girls Catholic school called Our Lady of Sorrow in the Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Hills. Gilda's first choice was not to go, but when she went to go check the school out she found out that someone had accidentally suicided themselves on the lake in the school. Since Gilda is a "psychic investigator" she decided to go to the school and find out what really happened. In order to solve this mystery she has to encounter the headmistress, a group of senior girls, a handsome teacher and some pretty crazy stuff. This book was definitely full of thrill, excitement and really good cliffhangers.



Character Description: the characters i am choosing to describe are Dolores Lambert, the girl who drowned in the school lake, and Brad, her mom's cuckoo boyfriend.

• Dolores- she was the freshman girl that died because she drowned in the lake. I do not know much about her because it doesn't really talk about her except when the headmistress mentions the bridge outside the lake. this bridge was built after her death to make sure no one would take short cuts and only use the bridge. I know that she was dared to go somewhere but she didn't make it, i know this because it says it in the first chapter.


• Brad- he is Gilda's mom's boyfriend who got Gilda the scholarship. In the beginning of the book he moves in with the Joyce family and later on in the book he starts acting suspicious so Gilda and her older brother spy on him. He is described as a clown by Gilda but as a gentlemen by Gilda's mom. He doesn't get the spotlight to often in the book.

Your Thoughts: I really enjoyed this book because it was full of twists and turns that were unexpected. The part i liked the most in the book was when she figured who was behind the drowning of Dolores. I liked this part because it was completely unexpected and she figured it out in a cool way that wasnt dangerous. I was surprised that a girl like Gilda could figure out the people behind the death in only a short period of time.

Reading Strategies: the reading strategies i used were questioning and mental images. I mainly used questioning towards the end of the book when Gilda was figuring out the suspect(s) were. I used mental images in the beginning when it described Dolores walking in the freezing cold blindfolded. I also imagined when she fell into the ice and inhaled the icy water instead of oxygen.

Author Information: the author of this book was Jennifer Allison. She grew up in Michigan but now lives in Washington D.C with her husband and son, Max. The only books she has written are from the Gilda Joyce series which include The Ghost Sonata and Psychic Investigator. I like how at the end of most chapters she left off with a cliffhanger, which made me want to continue reading.

Psychic Investigator

Plot: This book is about a 13 year old girl named Gilda Joyce. She goes to school in the Detroit suburb with her best friend Wendy Choy. Gilda loves to read, type on her father's typewriter, and have adventures whenever she has the chance. This summer Gilda plans on visiting her mother's second cousin named Lester Splinter. When Gilda gets to California, she is in for the unexpected. But on the good side, she makes new friends, definitely has an adventure, and much, much more.

Character Description: the characters i am choosing to describe are Gilda Joyce and Juliet Splinter, her cousin.

• Gilda- she is a smart 13 year old girl who wants to become a writer when she grows up. She loves solving mysteries and reading her book called The Master Psychic's Handbook. Something i like about Gilda is that she is very sweet and polite. I like this because if she wants to meet new people, like Lester, than she has to be polite and make a good first impression.
• Juliet- she is also 13 years old, but resembles an 11 year old because of her height. She has silky hair, pale skin, and icy, gray eyes. Juliet's parents divorced when she was very young and lived with her mother until she was 10 years old. She now lives with her father in a Victorian Mansion on Laguna Street. Something i strongly dislike about her is that she has a major attitude towards Gilda, when all Gilda is doing is trying to help Juliet live in a calm, peaceful household. She is mean when unnecessary, but when needed she is nice and understanding.

Your thoughts: I really enjoyed this book because i felt as if i was in Gilda's shoes. This book was suspenseful at times, which i liked a lot because it made me wonder and predict. Plus Jennifer Allison, the author, was very descriptive when she described people, places, feelings, etc. I like the way the she transited to one setting and then to a completely different one, but using details that made it feel as if you were moving too. I recommend this book to everyone especially if you like books like Killing Mr. Griffin and the series.

Reading Strategies: the reading strategy i mainly used was mental images. I used this a lot because since there was so much detail in the story i could clearly visualize each character and their characteristics. I made mental images of Juliet, Lester's reaction when Gilda arrived, Gilda's book (the cover), and more. i usually made a "mini-movie" at the end of each chapter, so by the end of the book i had a whole "movie." I used other strategies, but this one was the main one i used.

Author Information: the author of this book is Jennifer Allison. This is her first book and it is great. She grew up in a small town in Michigan. Since one of her best friends lived on a farm with a spooky atmosphere, they found it perfect to do seances, which inspired her to write this novel. The odd jobs she had before being an author helped her generate ideas for characters and stories. As i said before the thing i really liked about her was that she wrote with great detail.

Eager

Plot: The main character in this fiction book is a robot named EGR3 otherwise known as Eager. He lives with the Bell family, which consists of Gavin, Fleur, baby Charlotte, Dad, and Mom. His only duties are to take care of the baby, sometimes make meals, and obey everything Grumps says. Grumps is also a robot owned by the Bell's except his internal clock has gone haywire so he doesn't know what time of day it is. Later on, Gavin notices that all robots seem to be acting as if they are being controlled by someone or something, including Grumps and Eager, this leads to lives being lost and memory. Eventually, Eager learned how to deal with real people, talking appliances, and the real world.

Characters: the characters i am choosing to describe are Eager and Grumps.

• Eager- he was brought home in order for him to help Grumps, who was gettign old, but ended up being the new household robot. Eager was the prototype of a new robot that could think for himself and have feelings. Eager was very intelligent because he could catch on to things quickly which the Bell Family liked a lot. I liked Eager because he was supportive of Gavin, Fleur, and Baby Charlotte, plus he always put the family before himself.
• Grumps- he was the Bell's robot since Fleur, the oldest daughter, was a baby. He did all the chores around house, but as time went on he started getting older which caused his internal clock to go off time. Mr. Bell wanted to replace Grumps with a newer model because he was making a lot of mistakes, for example he serves lemon pie for breakfast. They kept Grumps because all of the kids were so attatched to him, they couldn't let go, plus he loved this family.

Your Thoughts: I liked this book because i imagined myself having a robot doing all my chores, serving me breakfast and helping me with my homework. The book was very good in the beginning and middle because it was fun seeing how Eager learned by making little mistakes. Towards the end it got sad and boring because Grumps died, Eager lost all his memory, and I felt the author went off topic near the end of the book. I felt this way about the ending because it went from talking about a peaceful family to a war and tragedy.

Reading Strategy: the reading strategy i used was making connections. The connection i made was with Eager. I felt that both Eager and I are appreciative of what we have, are helpful to others, and we learn quickly. Something we don't have in common is that he is a robot made of metal and rubber and i am a person made of flesh and bones.

Author Information: the author of this book is Helen Fox. This is her first novel, except that now she has published 2 more books, Eager's Nephew and Eager and the Mermaid. She lives in London with her husband, a scientist and their son. I like how she makes it feel like it is really happening.