Matilda by Roald Dahl

Matilda is a book by one of the most popular authors of the 20th century, Roald Dahl.  Matilda is my personal favorite book by him, though not as quite well known as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  The book is about a little girl, Matilda, who is a child prodigy with the dumbest parents imaginable.  When her parents do something terrible she punishes them by putting superglue in her fathers hat.  But, school is a different story.  Though her normal teacher Miss Honey is nice the headmaster, Miss Trunchbull, is 200 pounds of child-hating body mass.

As Matilda begins to learn more about how terrible "the Trunhcbull" is, she discovers that she is able to move things with her eyes.  With her new found power she decides that something must be done against Miss Trunchbull.  But, it would take a super genius to do that, wouldn't it?

This book is perfect for Roald Dahl's quirky writing style.  That is one of the reasons it is my favorite.  I also like how Matilda is stuck with a terrible family who doesn't care about her at all.  I am also interested in how Matilda is able to move things with her eyes and I think it puts a nice fantasy touch on the book.  Also, the relationship between Miss Honey's secret and how Matilda handles it is pivotal to the book.  This book is one of the few with a good movie adaptation.  Although it is not identical to the book I think what was added fits in well.  If you wanted to, you could read the book and watch the movie to decide what you think is better for yourself!

My Life as a Fifth Grade Comedian by Elizabeth Levy

This hilarious book by Elizabeth Levy will have you slapping your knees in no time.  This book was born and made funny.  It even has a joke at the beginning of each chapter!  Look carefully and you will find the same joke INSIDE the chapter.  It also has a more serious side.  The main character, Bobby Garick, makes constant jokes and pranks that have his principal threatening to send him to reform school.  However, his nice teacher Mr. Matous gives him one last chance to make a school-wide "laugh off" and keep him in school.  Hardly anyone thinks that Bobby can pull off the laugh off- especially his dad.  But, can Bobby prove to everyone that he is finally going straight?

I liked this book because it is not too long.  Some books add too much detail and can be hard to digest. This one has just enough detail to make it good and sometimes adds little ones that seem unimportant but later add to the story greatly.  I also like the main character because he is the absolute opposite of me.  He is kind of a  jokester and sometimes doesn't do his homework- actually that is what gets him in trouble in the first place.  In my family, it is out of the question not to do your homework.  I also think it's interesting, though not quite as funny, that his brother got thrown out of school for running a gambling ring!  This kind of scares Bobby as he sees what happened to his brother after he got thrown out of school and how his family reacted.  I also like his grandma who is just like Bobby, she likes to laugh.  His dad is also a pivotal character in the story because he doesn't believe in his son which makes Bobby, I think, slightly insecure.  Which may explain why he makes so many jokes.

All in all I think this book is wonderful and wrapped up in a little package.  It is good for budding readers because it is not too long.  I give it 5 stars!

John, Paul, George & Ben by Lane Smith

John, Paul, George & Ben by Lane Smith is another wonderful book our family friend Mike B. introduced us to, this book is great for all ages.  It is even easy for my little cousins to understand- Georgia, Ryan & Lily. This book is hilarious- it's a good way to learn about the founding fathers without even realizing it.  It has also given me one of the quotes that my mom hates me to say "PLEASE SHUT YOUR BIG YAP!".  Now, I am not going to tell you where that is in the book but you will know when it comes up.

The book is divided up into the 5 main characters as children, John, Paul, George and Ben and Tom (who is always off doing his own thing).  It shows you why Paul was able to yell so loud on his famous ride, why John Hancock's handwriting could be read from space, George's brutal honesty and Ben's clever sayings.  There is also a little quiz in the back that separates fact from fiction so your children don't really think that George chopped down his father's cherry tree.

This book is full of spunk and is a great read aloud story with great illustrations.  If you are anything like my family you will read it for years to come.

Extreme Biology by Dan Green

Basher Science has a great series of books on science topics like chemistry and physics.  They are good for kids that think science is boring (which is not by any means true!).  They capture your eye with the spunky characters that play out different pieces in the books.  For instance, in Extreme Biology, stuff like nano-medicine is a bunch of little people with briefcases inside a needle.  The characters themselves are hilarious as they describe themselves, their personalities and their scientific aspects.  You will be learning without even knowing it!

This particular book is about, naturally, Extreme Biology.  Characters like the "the humane genome code" and "cloning" explain the science behind them with pizzazz.  It is divided up into different sections like Hard Core Herd and Gene Genies.  This book is full of illustrations of what the science "characters" might look like in real life.  For instance, Gene Splicing is a guy with a giant pair of scissors.  The writing can also be funny. They define DNA as "the strange stuff that looks like snot and is crammed into every cell in your body".

I have read most of the books in their science series and have gained an immense amount of knowledge (and jokes!) from them.  I liked every single one of them.  I have read Astronomy, Physics, Rocks & Minerals, and Periodic Table.  Once you have read one of these books you will want to read them all.  Thankfully, they keep coming out with new ones all the time.

Soccer Scoop by Matt Christopher

          Soccer Scoop is a book by the author Matt Christopher. His books are all very good and he is one of the few prolific children's authors who doesn't stray into a pattern.  All of his books have sports in them but the story lines are not predictable.  My favorite books are the ones about soccer because that is my favorite sport.  He writes about every sport imaginable, but particularly baseball, basketball and football.  He also writes books on snowboarding, biking and even rollerblading!

Soccer scoop is a book about you guessed it, soccer. The premise of the story is that the talented goalie Mac Williams is known for two things: his athletic saves and his motor mouth. One day at school after a game, the school paper The Chronicle makes an insulting comic about his endless talking and how it affects the team.  Mac tries to find out who the cartoonist is by setting traps, doing embarrassing thing only around people he thinks might be the cartoonist. But can he do so without losing a close friend who is a reporter for the chronicle?  Find out in the Soccer Scoop!

I only recently read this book, just under a week ago.  A while ago I received a pile of books by Matt Christopher from my older cousin, Keith, who had outgrown them.  I read every single one sitting in the basement tearing through book after book.  This is one of the few that he didn't have and I found at my grandparents house.  In my opinion this is one of the better books by Matt Christopher.  It has a lot of things going on at once and I like that about a book.  I also enjoy his description of the soccer games that they play- it's quite realistic.  This book has a few illustrations throughout it that show pictures of the main character playing soccer or deflecting goals.  I would recommend these books to kids who enjoy sports from ages 7+.  Good books for budding readers! 

 I only have one complaint on this book.  At the end when they find out who the mystery cartoonist is, Mac doesn't get very upset with that character.  I was a little surprised by that- I certainly would be upset but I guess you will have to be the judge.

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

This is a book I came across at school.  I had heard of Gary Paulsen and had read a few of his works, like Mudshark, and wanted to read Hatchet.  I read the back of the book and the minute I started reading I was interested.  What is going to happen?  Will he survive?

The Hatchet is about a boy named Brian Robertson.  While taking a two person plane to Canada to visit his father, the pilot has a heart attack and  the plane crashes in the wilderness.  Armed with nothing but a hatchet, Brian is pressed to find food and shelter in the unforgiving Canadian woods.  He is up against terrible dangers: encounters with wolves, bears and a tornado among them.  Brian must find a way to survive and maybe one day get back home.  Or else...

The Hatchet is a masterpiece of a book created by the talented author Gary Paulsen.  Hatchet has a lot going for it.  It has amazing realism to it unmatched by any other book that I have read.  It probably could have happened in real life.  I like the authors rapid fire then slow going writing style goes well with this genre.  Just when you think Brian is safe, something bad happens!  I only have one complaint, sometimes he doesn't provide enough details, other times it seems like too much.  But all and all this is a must read for fans of the action/survival genre.  I give it a rating of 4 1/2 stars.

Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks

Sorry for the wait for the next blog, everyone.  I was on vacation to Minnesota to see my cousins, Ben and Lukas.  But, the good thing is that I have an awesome book to write about which I read on the plane- Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks.

Evil Genius is a book about Cadel Piggot who has a genius IQ and a fascination with computers.  At age seven he was sent to a troubled child counselor for illegally hacking into computers.  His counselor, Thaddeus, introduces him to his real father, international criminal Dr. Darkon.  Seven years later, where the main course of the story occurs, he goes to a school called Axis Institute, founded by his father.  It is pretty much a school of evil.  As Cadel begins to question his fathers true motives, shocking secrets are unveiled.  One of them is forcing him to ask the ultimate question.  "Who am I?".

First of all I have to thank my Nana for introducing me to this book.  One of her friends grandsons had read this book and she recommended it to Nana, who then recommended it to me.   There are 3 books in this series and I have only read the first.  The second two are Genius Squad and Genius Wars.  Hence, "The Genius Trilogy".  

This book is superb.  I have admit I have read this book at least 10 times.  The story itself is very gripping and has a curveball at the end of almost every chapter and new things are always happening.  It is interesting to see how Cadel uses only his intellect to do amazing things like, quite literally, take down the gymnasium at his old school.  It is also interesting to see how everyone but his counselor and father underestimate him because of his small stature and innocent face.

I would recommend this book to kids who do not mind a little developing before the real action starts.  I also think this book is good for ages of about 12+ because of slight use of language.  It does fit in well with the story because some of the teachers are pretty darn bad criminals. (*note from mom- this is very minor language used only a few times).  I give this book 6 stars out of 5.

PS- I didn't mention one character who is kind of important because I wanted to save the surprise.  Hint- her name is Kay-Lee McDougal (or is it?!)  Happy reading!