Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff

Review by Sarah Cloonan 

This is a great book and I would recommend it to any student. It’s about an orphan named Hollis Woods who has this idea that she is a mountain of trouble. Until one day when she is brought to a home with an old lady, Josie, who has much in common with Hollis. But as much as Hollis likes staying with Josie, she can’t help but remember the times she had in her last home, the Reagan’s.Just when Hollis Woods is warming up to Josie, though, she is threatened to be taken away and put with another family. Now Hollis is running away with Josie to her old home. Will they get caught? Will they find her old family? You’ll have to read the book to find out!

 Olive’s Ocean is about a girl named Martha Boyle. She is a middle school girl who is going to her grandmother’s for a week. Martha wanted to please everyone one, which later on she figured she couldn’t do. At the end Martha realized that she would rather be at home.   I think students would like this book would because it is about a girl our age, and she is going through typical teen changes, too. I think that some students would also like this because they would know that people have problems out there to help them through any hard times if they don’t have someone to talk to. 

Review by Kas Streater   

Requirements for rising 8th graders enrolled in Honors English I @ D.R. Hill:

Summer Reading is required for all Honors English classes.  Read the assigned book during the summer.  Written and/or oral assignments/projects will be assigned and completed during the first week of your English course.  
 

Honors English I Selection:

Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns Description from Titlewave.com:  In 1906, the citizens of the small Georgia town of Cold Sassy are scandalized when Grandpa, the owner of the general store, marries a Yankee many years his junior only three weeks after becoming a widower. 

summary from Library Media Connection (March 2007):

Twelve-year-old Maggie has begun to think about the possibility of a life away from the Erie Canal. What would it be like to live in a house on dry land where she wouldn’t be called “dirty canal girl” and have rocks thrown at her. After her father and uncle are arrested, Maggie, her ailing mother, and her brother fight a desperate battle to get their cargo to Buffalo in time to collect a bonus and prevent the loss of the cargo-hauling boat that is also their home.

Gangsters do laundry?

On Alcatraz island they do…

 Book Excerpt: 

capone-1.mp3

Jack lives in a Saxon village with a father who is always disappointed in him and a beautiful, slightly obnoxious younger sister who is the family’s favorite.  It seems that Jack will be destined to live his days as a poor farmer, just as his bitter father was once forced to abandon his own dreams and accept a more simple life as a peasant.  Jack’s fate dramatically changes, though, when he is asked to be become an apprentice to the revered Bard…Jack?  Why not the other town boys who seem much brighter and stronger?   Jack does not realize that the Bard foresees great promise in his character, and the Bard believes Jack is the only hope for their town’s survival. 

Jack internship is violently interrupted when the wild r raid his home, capturing both Jack and Lucy and forcing them to leave their home far behind.  Soon Jack finds himself embarking on a mysterious, dangerous journey.  He must fulfill a seemingly impossible quest – and quickly!  If not, his beautiful, beloved sister will be brutally offered as a sacrifice.

This book provides great humor and spine-tingling adventures (dragons, spiders, and vicious trolls – Oh My!).  The greatest aspect to this book are the numerous life themes Nancy Farmer addresses – loyalty, faith, love of family, ambiguity of good and evil, and many more.  Jack emerges from this adventure as a true Bard in his own right.

Nancy Farmer is an amazing writer.  Hopefully the long length will not discourage any readers – once started, you will eventually wish the story had never ended!

Heartbeat is about Annie who loves to run. She runs to get rid of all her stress and to take things off her mind. Annie then finds out that her mom is pregnant and everything starts to change. Her grandfather stops remembering what happens and her best friend Max is trying to hide his feelings from her. I would recommend this book because it is a book you cannot put down. Once you start you will want to find out what happens next.

By: Sydney McMakin

The book Heir Apparent by Vivian Vande Velde is a fiction book. It is based around a video game that is malfunctioning and has trapped one gamer inside. To beat it she must live until the end of the third day and complete certain task. It’s a good book if you’re into fantasy books with knights and dragons. I liked it and I think others will, too.

By John Gillespie

Download Review of Escape from Memory

 From book cover -

Then: Sweet Pad in the family mansion,

King of the Pool, $5000 Stereo, Mercedes, SRK (Spoiled Rich Kid)

 Now:

Crashing in dead guy’s bed at crazy Aunt Mary’s

King of Cleaning pools

Minimum Wage

Ford

P.B. (Poor Boy)

Brett had everything a high school freshman could ever ask for…money, popularity, hot girls….

When Brett’s dad is jailed for insider trading, Brett eyes are suddenly opened.  The view?  Not so pretty..

Despite the serious subjects, this book will still make you laugh out loud. 

Easy to read, but not easy to forget

Julius Lester, in Day of Tears, weaves together the haunting story of an actual historical event occuring in Savannah, Georgia - the largest slave auction in American history.  Pierce Butler auctions off the majority of his slaves because of his mounting gambling debts.  The slaves have lived on the Butler plantation with their families for generations.  Through dialogue, Lester effectively relays the horrors of slavery and the tragic aftermath that occurs to all of the people who participated that day.  Lester’s writing in this novel may seem simple at first, but it quickly becomes emotionally charged.  The reader will feel as if he is experiencing the emotional losses, the degradation, the sorrow,  and the cruelty as he reads about the experiences of several people attending the slave auction from multiple viewpoints :  the slaveowner, slaveowner’s ex-wife, slaveowner’s children, slave seller,  several slaves sold at the auctions (young and old), the mother and father of a slave sold, a slave couple desperately in love who are separated, etc.  Lester uses both historical fact and fictitious details to demonstrate how all people were deeply impacted by that fateful rainy day on March 2nd and 3rd, 1859.

This book is highly recommended.

the-city-of-ember.ppt

By Cody Eldridge

Confused by all of the males in her life, thirteen-year-old Alyssa “Blister” Reed wants to help when her best friend Jonah’s quest for popularity lands him in deep trouble, but his desire to make her his girlfriend gets in the way.

summary from Follett’s Titlewave:

When thirteen-year-old Koly enters into an ill-fated arranged marriage, she must either suffer a destiny dictated by India’s tradition or find the courage to oppose it.

   Amazing epic adventure

Jack lives in a Saxon village with a father who is always disappointed in him and a beautiful, slightly obnoxious younger sister who is the family’s favorite.  It seems that Jack will be destined to live his days as a poor farmer, just as his bitter father was once forced to abandon his own dreams and accept a more simple life as a peasant.  Jack’s fate dramatically changes, though, when he is asked to be become an apprentice to the revered Bard…Jack?  Why not the other town boys who seem much brighter and stronger?   Jack does not realize that the Bard foresees great promise in his character, and the Bard believes Jack is the only hope for their town’s survival. 

Jack internship is violently interrupted when the wild r raid his home, capturing both Jack and Lucy and forcing them to leave their home far behind.  Soon Jack finds himself embarking on a mysterious, dangerous journey.  He must fulfill a seemingly impossible quest – and quickly!  If not, his beautiful, beloved sister will be brutally offered as a sacrifice.

This book provides great humor and spine-tingling adventures (dragons, spiders, and vicious trolls – Oh My!).  The greatest aspect to this book are the numerous life themes Nancy Farmer addresses – loyalty, faith, love of family, ambiguity of good and evil, and many more.  Jack emerges from this adventure as a true Bard in his own right.

Nancy Farmer is an amazing writer.  Hopefully the long length will not discourage any readers – once started, you will eventually wish the story had never ended!