Peter Pan

           Peter Pan was written by J. M. Barrie. It has no illustrator, but it is cleverly written. It was first published in 1911 under the title Peter and Wendy and again in 1921 under the title Peter Pan and Wendy. The edition that I read was published in 2008. You can get this book at the Brookfield Public Library.
          Peter Pan is about the Darling children coming to live with Peter Pan and the Lost Boys. Wendy becomes their mother, and they live there in the Neverland a long time. Then Captain Hook captures the children, and it is up to Peter Pan to save them. Afterwards, Peter takes them all home, and Mrs. Darling decides to adopt the Lost Boys. She wanted to adopt Peter, too, but Peter wouldn't let her.
            My favorite part of Peter Pan is when Peter is napping on a rock on a river in the Mermaid's Lagoon and the tide rises. When the tide rises on Mermaid Lagoon, that rock gets covered by water. Peter wakes up, but he can't fly back. The tide keeps rising, and Peter thinks to himself, "I am going to die. I think it will be an adventure to die." So he keeps lying there, and a Never Bird comes along the river floating on her nest (her nest had fallen into the river and she would not desert her eggs- they are not hatched yet in this story). She tries to tell Peter to get into her nest, but of course he couldn't understand her - she being a bird and all - and he didn't. Instead, he says something back that the bird couldn't understand. But will he ever get into the nest? If he does, what will he do with the eggs? Find out in the ever-exiting book, Peter Pan!

Vostaas: White Buffalo's Story

            Vostaas: White Buffalo's Story was written by William White Buffalo. It was recorded by Maxine Ruppel, and was illustrated by the students at Labre Indian School, Northern Cheyenne Reservation. It was published in 1995. It is an autobiography.
             Vostaas: White Buffalo's Story is William White Buffalo's story of the way the Plains Indians live- in the past and the present. This book talks about the clothing, the food, the housing, the work, the religion, etc. It even talks about the different kinds of Indians! The Indians have gone through a lot of troubling things: the white settlers, the reservations, the houses, you name it. Now they are better off with their life style. I'm glad.

Pocahontas and the Strangers

Please enjoy another guest post by Nathanael K.:

Pocahontas and the Strangers was written by Clyde Robert Bulla.  This book was about Pocahontas and the pale-faces (the English men and women).Then some of the Indians stole Captain John Smith. The other Indians in her tribe wanted to kill him, but Pocahontas asked her father if she could marry him. Years later she got captured by the English. They let her free and she went to England with John Rolfe (her husband) and Thomas/Little Nantaquas.

Pocahontas is my favorite character because she is the main one.  She is adventurous and she loves nature. 

I liked this book because it was really exciting, and you can’t predict what is going to happen next.

I think you should read this book because it has a lot of boys and girls in it.

 

A Lion to Guard Us

               A Lion to Guard Us was written by Clyde Robert Bulla and was illustrated by Michele Chessare. It was published in 1981. You can get this book at the Brookfield Public Library. It is a fiction book.
               A Lion to Guard Us is about three children: Amanda, Jemmy, and Meg. Amanda, the oldest, is to young to be worked as hard as a grown-up. Then she loses her job. The three children have to get to the New World. They find a ship to take them there. They have to get to their father in the Virginia. Jemmy has a brass door-knocker,( or, otherwise called a knock-knock), in his pocket that their father gave Amanda, Jemmy, and Meg to protect them. Will it really do that?
               My favorite part in A Lion to Guard Us is when Amanda, Jemmy, Meg, and the rest of the people on the ship are stranded on an island. Then, when it is almost time to leave, Jemmy and the knocker become lost. How did the knocker become lost? Why did Jemmy go off when it was almost time to go? Will either of them return? Find out in this book, A Lion to Guard Us.

The Cay

     The Cay, pronounced "key", was written by Theodore Taylor. It has no illustrations. It was copyrighted in 1969 by the author. You can get this book at the Brookfield Public Library.
      The Cay is about a caucasian boy named Phillip stranded on an island with an African American man named Timothy. Phillip doesn't really like Timothy until he becomes blind from a crack on the head. Then their friendship begins. This book tells about the adventures Phillip has while he is on the island.   
       My favorite part of  The Cay is the end of the book when Phillip is rescued from the island. He goes home and is rushed to the hospital, even though the doctor on the ship he was rescued on said he was perfectly healthy. But, after many X-rays and tests, Phillip could see again. He would have to wear glasses, but he could see.

Island of the Blue Dolphins

         Island of the Blue Dolphins was written by Scott O'Dell and won the Newbery Medal Award. It has no pictures, and was published in 1960 by Scott O'Dell. You can find the book at the Brookfield Public Library.
        Island of the Blue Dolphins is about a young Indian girl named Karana. She lives by herself on an island, the Island of the Blue Dolphins. This book is about how she survived on the island: fighting wild dogs, exploring, and hiding from her enemies, the Aleuts.
         My favorite part in Island of the Blue Dolphins is when the Aleuts come. There is a girl with them. One day, as the girl gathers food, she spots Karana. What will happen? Will Karana befriend the girl? Will a war break out? Find out in this book, Island of the Blue Dolphins.

Voyage on the Great Titanic

    Voyage on the Great Titanic was written by Ellen Emerson White. It has no illustrations except for the photos in the back of the book. It was published in 1998. You can get this book at the Brookfield Public Library. It is historical fiction.
     Voyage on the Great Titanic is the diary of Margaret Ann Brady, a  British passenger on the Titanic (Note: she is fiction). She lived at an orphanage until a wealthy American woman named Mrs. Carstairs was to be her guardian on the Titanic. Once she reached America, she would meet up with her brother, William. She was a survivor on the Carpathia and met her brother in America.
      My favorite part of the book is at the end. Margaret and William are on a train headed somewhere. All you know about their future is that they were going to get two cats the next day. What else will their future bring them? I don't know. I hope something good will happen but I will never know.

McKenna

          McKenna was written and illustrated by Mary Casanova. It was published by American Girl this year, 2012. You can get this book at the Brookfield Public Library. It is the first in a series of two.
          And now I bring you, all you American Girl fans, the 2012 girl of the year, McKenna! In this book, McKenna not only has gymnastics, but she also has to meet with a tutor named Josie to bring her grades up. Not only that, but she has to face her friends when they find out she has a tutor. Then, at the end of the book, she breaks her ankle at the demonstration for gymnastics. Find out how she overcomes all these problems in this book, McKenna.
          My favorite part of McKenna is when she breaks her ankle. The doctor says she must have a cast on for a little over two months. At first, McKenna is crabby. Then she realizes that she should just be who she is-McKenna. But will she ever get back to the sport she loves? Find out in the next book, McKenna, Ready to Fly!

Little House on Rocky Ridge

          Little House on Rocky Ridge was written by Roger Lea MacBride and was illustrated by David Gilleece. It was published in 1993. You can get this book at the Brookfield Public Library. It is the first of the Rose books.
          If you've heard of Laura Ingalls Wilder, you've probably heard of her daughter, Rose. Little House on Rocky Ridge is all about Rose. In this book, Rose and her family are moving to Missouri, the land of the Big Red Apple, because of a drought in South Dakota. They travel with friends, and have a good time. This book is all about moving to Missouri and getting settled.
              My favorite part in Little House on Rocky Ridge was when Mama finds out that their 100 dollar bill - all the money that they had - was missing. Mama and Papa were going to sell Little Pet, the colt. One day, Papa comes home with a fair offer for Little Pet. The next day Mama and Rose were picking grapes. They were going to make a pie with them. While Rose sorts the good grapes and the bad ones and Mama writes a letter, Rose sees something white in the stack of plates. She tries to pick it out. It's a piece of white paper. Then Rose feels something else. Is it the 100 dollar bill? If it is, will Rose tell Mama? If it isn't, what is it? Find the answers in Little House on Rocky  Ridge.

Along came a Dog

                Along Came a Dog was written by Meindert DeJong, and was illustrated by Maurice Sendak. It was published in 1958 and was renewed in 1986. You can get this book from the Brookfield Public Library. I like this book because of the hidden friendships a chicken and a dog have.   

                Along Came a Dog is about a hen who lost her toes over a hard winter. The other hens pick on her, then suddenly a dog shows up. The farmer who owns the hens takes the dog away multiple times, but the dog always shows up again. The dog protects the hen, and when he saves the hen from being eaten by hawks, the farmer knows he's been proven wrong of his theory that the dog had killed the hen. At the end of the book, the dog has a home.
                   My favorite part in Along Came a Dog is when the dog realized that he had a boss. It happened when the dog found an egg. The hen was somehow in the wrong with the rooster. The dog was eating eggs when he heard the little hen in trouble. With the last egg from the nest in his mouth, he ran to the scene. He let the egg drop and battled the rooster. The hen claimed the egg as her own. The next day, the dog saw his egg. He came forth to get it. The hen came to him and punished him for taking her property. That's when the dog knew that he had a boss. I love Along Came Dog!

Lumber Camp Library

              Lumber Camp Library was written by Natalie Kinsey-Warnock, and was illustrated by James Bernardin. It was published in 2002. This book shows me what the power of reading can do to a child.
               Lumber Camp Library is about a girl named Ruby who lives on a lumber camp. Her father, a log-riding lumberjack, makes Ruby go to school. She soon finds she loves school, and loves reading even more. She sets up a school, she was the teacher and her 10 brothers and sisters are the students.  Ruby even taught her father to write his name. She reads the children stories, and while she was at school, the other kids would act out the stories. Then Pa dies while clearing out a log jam. The family moves to town. All the children go to school. Everyone tries to make the best of their new life.
                 My favorite part in Lumber Camp Library is when the family is living in town. One of the lumberjacks, Jim, shows Ruby a ring - an engagement ring.  Ruby knows this means that Jim wanted to marry Ma, and she also knows she can't let that happen. Then Ma got sick. She told Ruby to go to the lumber camp to say that she couldn't do her job. Ruby went. She could not find Jim, so she went to his bunkhouse to leave him a note. While she's there writing the note, she hears a clink. It's the ring. Ruby takes the ring and throws it down a mountainside. She does it for Pa. But will someone find the ring? If it is found, will Ruby come clean? The answers can be found in this book: Lumber Camp Library.

The Mysterious Benedict Society

         The Mysterious Benedict Society was written by Trenton Lee Stewart. It was illustrated by Carson Ellis, and was published in 2007. You can get the book at the Brookfield Public Library. It is the first book in a series of four.
         The Mysterious Benedict Society is about four children who take tests with really hard and really mysterious questions. These four children, Reynard (Reynie), George (Sticky, because everything he reads sticks in his head), Kate, and Constance, are the only ones that pass the tests. Mr. Benedict - the one who designed the tests - knows there are messages that are going to be broadcast into people's minds and cause eternal discomfort, especially for Constance. So he makes the four kids into a group and  sends them to The Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened, where the only rule is there are no rules. They act as spies for him, finding out what they can and reporting it to him. The boys become messengers, getting sessions in the Whisperer (what Mr. Curtain, the sender, is using to broadcast the messages). Kate gets daring and finds out what she can. Constance just gets crankier every day.
             My favorite part of  The Mysterious Benedict Society is when Reynie, Kate, Sticky, and Constance are trying to confuse the Whisperer. Constance gets in the Whisperer, and when it told her to think different things like her name and what she was afraid of, she said,"No! I won't! Uh-uh! You can't make me! I... Don't....CARE!" Can Constance resist the Whisperer? Can she confuse it ? Will the entire world be saved? Find the answers in this book, The Mysterious Benedict Society.

Emily's Runaway Imagination

        Emily's Runaway Imagination was written by Beverly Clearly, an author you may already know. It was illustrated by Beth and Joe Krush. It was copywrited in 1961. You can get this book at the Brookfield Public Library. It's a pretty funny book.
        Emily's Runaway Imagination is about a fourth-grade girl named Emily in the 1920s. Mama says Emily's imagination runs away with her, and it does! Come along with Emily as she helps get a library started, Cloroxes a horse, feeds apples to hogs so she won't waste food and they get drunk, makes an upside-down pie, and wins a prize for a costume she didn't know about. The laughs won't stop with her around.
         My favorite part in Emily's Runaway Imagination is where Emily is having a sleepover with her cousin, June. They fall asleep, then wake up during a thunderstorm. There are creepy sounds all over the place, so they think there is a ghost in the house. They start looking for Emily's parents. Then they notice a hole in the screen door. Will they find out who made the hole? Will they find out what the ghost was? The answers can be found in the book, Emily's Runaway Imagination.

Stalked in the Catacombs

               Stalked in the Catacombs is the 3rd book in a series called A Daring Adventure and was written by Peter Reese Doyle. It was published in 1993. It has no illustrations, but the writing makes me feel as though I am right next to the main characters, Mark and Penny Daring and their friend, David Curtis.
               Stalked in the Catacombs is about three teens, Mark and Penny Daring and their friend, David Curtis. They are in France, helping Mr. Daring get sensitive information on a just-discovered tomb in Egypt. While they are helping, though, their archenemy, Hoffman, tries to steal the information so he and his crew can rob the tomb. In the end his plans are foiled.
                One of my favorite parts in Stalked in the Catacombs is when Mark, Penny, and David are taking a tour in the catacombs under Paris. Hoffman plotted to grab Penny and keep her until Mr. Daring told him where the tomb was located in Egypt. While thethree teens were exploring the catacombs, Hoffman grabs Penny and the three got separated-Penny and David, and Mark by himself! Will Penny and David get out? Will they stop Hoffman's men? Will Mark get help?  These will only be answered in the book, Stalked in the Catacombs.

Tornado

Enjoy this guest post by Nathanael K.:

           Tornado, by Betsy Byars, illustrated by Doron Ben-Ami, is about a boy and his dog. The dog was flung to the boy`s house by a tornado. The boy`s name was Pete and he named the dog Tornado.
            This book is my favorite because it`s about a boy and his dog`s adventures, and my favorite parts were when the roof of the house came off and when the dog came back. This book made me feel happy when the dog came homeJ and sad when he had to leaveL. I think you`ll like this book because it has a lot of different stories in it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:)

"B" is for Betsy

       "B" is for Betsy was written by Carolyn Haywood, and was published in 1939 and was renewed in1966. It is also illustrated by the same author.
                 
        "B" is for Betsy is a book about a girl going to first grade for the first time. Her friend Old Ned told her that school is a horrible place and the teacher beats you with a switch if you do something wrong. But Betsy can not find the switch and her teacher, Miss Gray, is a very nice teacher. School is a wonderful place!

       One of my favorite parts of "B" is for Betsy is when at the end of the school year, if she got promoted to second grade, her father would give her a surprise. She gets promoted, and the surprise she gets is when she goes to her grandfather's farm for the summer, her best friend Ellen can come with her.

      You should read "B" is for Betsy.

Black Hearts in Battersea

          Black Hearts in Battersea was written by Joan Aiken and was published in 1964. It has no illustrations, but it is written very creatively. It just paints pictures in my mind. 

          Black Hearts in Battersea is a book about a boy named Simon who arrives in London to study art and meet up with an old family friend named Dr. Field. When he gets to the place Dr. Field is supposed to be staying, though, the family who lives there claims that they don't know any Dr. Field. Simon meets old and new friends and battles tough situations, especially the one where the Duke and Duchess of Battersea are about to be killed. Then it all resolves in the end.
          What I like best is when Simon and his friend Sophie find out that they have the Battersea tuft. The Battersea tuft is an area of white hair on the back of the neck. It's so cool to find out that Simon and Sophie are brother and sister. I love Black Hearts in Battersea!

Racso and the Rats of NIMH

          Racso and the Rats of NIMH is a really good book. It is by Jane Leslie Conly, who wrote a sequel to the book Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien. Racso and the Rats of  NIMH was copyrighted in 1986. I would advise you to read it.

            Racso and the Rats of NIMH is about a mouse named Timothy who's going to Thorn Valley, the hideout for the rats of NIMH. Thorn Valley is also a school for young mice and rats. On the way he meets Racso, a city rat who is running away from home. Racso learns to read and write at Thorn Valley. Actually, Racso is the one who makes the plan to save Thorn Valley from being flooded by a dam.
                 What I like best is when the rats are copying the facts of the dam so they can destroy it. The night watchmen come into the room and catch two of the rats under a trashcan, one of whom is Racso. What happens? Will they get out? Find the answer in Racso and the Rats of NIMH.

Boxcar Children: Guide Dog Mystery

Readers, I hope you enjoy this guest post by Sarah R.:


The Boxcar Children is a series written by Gertrude Chandler Warner.  I like the Boxcar Children books. I especially like the Guide Dog Mystery one. It is about the Boxcar Children visiting a guide dog school. Like in most of the Boxcar Children books, they meet someone who acts very nice until something mysterious happens that makes him angry. The Boxcar Children meet some suspicious guys and almost solve the mystery, but then something surprising happens.

Thanks, Sarah, for sharing your review! ~AJ

Henry Reed's Journey

       Henry Reed's Journey by Keith Robertson is a great book about a boy traveling across the country and recording his adventures in his travel journal. It's really cool.  It is illustrated by Robert McCloskey, who won a Caldecott Medal for Make Way for Ducklings.          
         Henry is a boy traveling across the country from California to New Jersey with the Glass family. Along the way they collect souvenirs, stuff the station wagon, and have a lot of fun while they're at it. I would like to travel with them.
         There are two parts I like. The first one is where Midge Glass accidentally dropped the car keys down the side of the Grand Canyon. Henry and a friend they met called Terry used a bent paper clip to fish the car keys.  The second part I liked about the book was when Midge and Henry traded a horned toad for an unfinished painting. They came to Taos, New Mexico, where there was an art exhibit and you could sell your paintings. Well, Midge wanted to sell their painting but "doctor it up" first. They put an eggplant in one corner and a carrot under it. Then they put an egg on top of a mountain with spiders crawling down it. The painting won honorable mention, plus Mrs. Glass bought it! She would never know that her daughter and Henry made it.

Dolphin Tale

      Dolphin Tale is a great book. The novel is written by Gabrielle Ryes, but it is based on the movie.
      Dolphin Tale is about a boy named Kyle who one day sees something on the shore of the ocean. It is a bottlenose dolphin. The Clearwater Marine Hospital arrives and finds the dolphin already freed by Kyle. The sad thing is, the dolphin's tail could not survive. Then they take the dolphin to the Clearwater Marine Hospital and give it a name - Winter.
      Winter and Kyle become really good friends. Kyle's the only one who can get Winter to eat! They love to play together and spend time with each other. The author makes me think I'm right with Kyle while he is beside Winter. I think it's cool. 
      I liked the book Dolphin Tale because it's amazing to see what friendship and time can do. And if you want to find out more about the book, read the book yourself!

Simon Bloom: The Octopus Effect

Simon Bloom: The Octopus Effect is a wonderful book. Let me give you an overview of the plot. It is about a boy named Simon and his friends Owen and Alysha and they are not ordinary seventh graders. They have special powers which I will not tell you if you want to read the book, because that would spoil the story. So Simon, Owen , and Alysha have to fight this villainess named Sirabetta, and she is extremely powerful. But Simon, Owen, and Alysha use their wits, strength, and powers to defeat Sirabetta. It was awesome!