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!