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The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo

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Until I find other stories to read, I’ve been scouring through my old backpacks and bins of school supplies for some books I haven’t read for… wow, six years now. Nearly seven! I saw Janny’s blog post a while back on a tale about a china rabbit and suddenly the vague memories I had about the book became clearer, so when I happened to stumble upon my old copy The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane I just knew I had to read it again! Edward is a snobby porcelain rabbit doll (oh, not a doll I guess—he doesn’t like being called a doll) who cares a lot more about his appearance than his loving owners. That is, until Edward finds himself lost, travelling from owner to owner, being treated both as a beloved companion and as a burden, as trash. With each new owner, Edward’s outlook on his life changes. At a first glance, the book might just seem like a simple tale about a porcelain rabbit getting lost, but the story quickly turns into something deeper. It explores themes of what it means to ...
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Anthem by Ayn Rand

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"WE ARE ONE IN ALL AND ALL IN ONE. THERE ARE NO MEN BUT ONLY THE GREAT WE, ONE, INDIVISIBLE AND FOREVER." These are the words of truth for the society in the book Anthem .      Published in 1938, Anthem by Ayn Rand is a dystopian novella following the life of main character, Equality-72521 in a future world where the word "I" is forbidden and is the worst law you could break with the consequence of death. This book serves as a diary for 21-year-old, Equality-72521 as he writes about his life.       In this society, being different is frowned upon and everyone must be alike. Though, Equality-72521 is different. At 21 years old, he is six feet tall which he calls a burden as not many people are this height. Many of his teachers and leaders say that he has evil in his bones because he is taller than everyone else. He believes he has a curse which caused him to be so different. On page 5 he states, "We were born with a curse. It has always driven us to th...
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Where The Mountain Meets The Moon: By Grace Lin

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       Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is a fantasy adventure book based on Chinese folktales. The main character is Minli, a poor girl who lives with her mom and dad in the Village of Fruitless Mountain. The mountain is sad because of the Jade Dragon, which makes the land dry and hard to live on. Minli’s mom is upset about being poor, but Minli enjoys listening to her dad’s stories, which are full of magic and adventure.      One day, Minli buys a talking goldfish who tells her about the Old Man of the Moon, an immortal who can change fortunes. After learning about him, Minli begins a journey to find him. Along the way, she befriends a dragon.      Minli and Dragon face many challenges on their journey, including greedy monkeys and the dangerous Green Tiger. They also meet kind people who help them when they need it most. When Minli finally meets the Old Man of the Moon, she can only ask one question. Instead of asking how to bring f...
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My Thoughts on Frindle by Andrew Clements—Six Years Later!

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I first read Frindle six years ago, back when I was nine years old in third grade. I distinctly remember my teacher at the time, Mr. Flodstrom, a tall man with neat brown hair starting to thin on top, a clean-shaven face, and a presence that was both approachable and authoritative. He was very enthusiastic when introducing this book as a class read, and—something unusual for a group of third graders just given a ton of reading work—the class seemed to enjoy it too. Even I liked it, and rereading it now has given me a whole new perspective on the story, along with the many subtle lessons it contains. Frindle is about Nick Allen, a curious and clever fifth-grader who, out of boredom, decides to make up a new word for pen: “Frindle.” Now that I’ve been a fifth-grader, I must admit this does indeed sound like something a fifth-grader would do. But unlike in the typical fifth-grade experience, Nick’s inside joke quickly spread from his classroom to across the entire nation, sparking debate...
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Books I Really Want To Read

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  Lately, I haven’t been reading much outside of school. Between homework, classes, and everything else going on, it’s been hard to just sit down and really get into a book. Still, I’m eager to get back into reading, so here are a few books that have been sitting on my mental “to-read” list forever.   The Summer I Turned Pretty (Trilogy) - By Jenny Han I’ve already seen all three seasons of the show and I loved them. I’ve read the first book in the series and would like to continue with It’s Not Summer Without You and We’ll Always Have Summer to see how the story plays out in the original version.  1984: The Graphic Novel by George Owell I read the original novel version of 1984 in seventh grade and although it was challenging, and to be honest, confusing to read, I still thought it was interesting. My dad recently bought the graphic novel adaptation and I think it will be interesting to compare the two and see how the story unfolds visually.   Powerless by...
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Review of the I survived series

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I Survived is a book series written by Lauren Tarshis. Each book in this series features a different historical event following the perspective of a child protagonist who is usually 8-12 years old. I discovered I Survived  in elementary school when my friend recommended it to me. Each book had a captivating story that was hard to put down. Not only was it entertaining, but it also provided an educational experience about historical events that I probably wouldn't have known much about before reading these books. What I did and didn't like about the series      Something I liked about these books were the amount of detail they each had. The high level of descriptions in the books made it easier to imagine and even picture yourself in the position of the main character. For example, in the book, I Survived Hurricane Katrina, 2005, an example of the great detail can be seen on page 5,  " Wind howled around him. Rain hammered down. And all Barry could see was water....
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The Book Thief

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          I'm writing the blog on a book from 2005 called "The Book Thief". This book takes place in Nazi Germany during World War II. The is from the perspective of young girl named Liesel Meminger. This book had an interesting aspect but it being narrated by Death (Death uses color to depict the human behavior and emotion for example white symbolizes innocence and black and red symbolize death, violence, and strength). This book covers many themes throughout the story include death, literature, and love. There will be a few spoilers!      The story starts out with Liesel and her little brother Werner on the train on their way to meet their foster parents. Sadly, Werner dies on the train  dies as they travel toward Munich. Liesel and her mother get off the train and bury him (at his funeral 2 day later she steals her first book "The gravedigger`s Handbook"   and then continue their journey to where Liesel’s new foster parents ...
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