Dear Ms.Monaco,

I read the book The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. I would rate this book four out of ten. It was just really really confusing and I did not understand what was goin on at all times throughout the book. I would recommend this book to people that like mystery books. The whole book is about a lot of people in a hotel that try to figure out a murder case because the winner of it gets one million dollars. My favorite thing about the book is the suprise ending that happens.

My favorite quote from the book is when Turtle Wrextler says to Crow "Alice how about a game of chess?" Ths is a good quote because Turtle Wrexler finds out about the murder and then about Crow and how thta is not her real name. Crow is Alice in real life and she always talked anout how Alice loved chess and Crow did also. No one actully knew who Alice was until a valuble clue gave her away. She had all the same emiotional traits but none physical. That is exactly how Turtle found out because Crow was so emotional all the time and so Turtle put two and two together to figure out that.

The message of this book is even the strangest person can come out on top. Or that anyone can good at something it might be weird but it is possible. That is what Turtle did she didn't act smart but she was. She actully was allowed to listen in on people because Bono thought she would ever b smart enough to do anything.No matter how long or old you can do anything you want. Sometimes when your young things trun out the way you want them to be.

If I could change one thing from this book is unsted of having Turtle confront Mr.Westing at the end have her make him figure out she knows. Mr. Westing is a smart man that knows a lot. He thought he would trick everyone. He loves to play games that was basically how Turtle found out.

The author of this story is an fanstastic writer. She tells you things you dont want to know but end up helping you. The author causes you to think hard and put two and two together. I think this story would have been better if there wasnt so many charcters i believe there was atleast twelve not counting the people who randomly come in during the book.

Chains

Madison S, Jaycee D, Emily B

We have recently finished the book Chains. It was a great book. It was about two sisters Isabel and Ruth. Isabel and Ruth are slaves. Their parents are dead, and they are owned by a mean family. Isabel and Ruth are separated and Isabel wants to escape. She just doesn't know how. So the book is about their fight for freedom. We enjoyed reading it, and recomend it. So if your looking for a book pick up Chains.

Top 8

We have finished the book! We found out who the hacker was. It was one of her best friends. You should never trust someone and tell them everything. Best friends can turn on you so be careful. Also do not talk behind peoples backs because they will find out you talked about them. Read Top 8 to learn more about the book!!!

Gym Candy

We are reading the book Gym Candy by Carl Deuker. It's about a kid named Mick Johnson and he is really good at football. As he grow older he became a high school football star. But he needed help of the steriods so he injects himself with it everytime he work out or has a game. Will other people find out? What will happen to him?

Cracker

Black book of secrets travis p., ben m., mac d., ty f., michael j.

The black book of secrets was a good book. The author had multiple main characters making it harder to remember all of the characters. But thE book itself was a unique one. Joe zabbidou is a secret pawnbroker, hint hint the secret part. Ludlow another main character had his fortunes turn for the better when he met joe. The conflict in this book was the main story of two men fighting to gain more than wealth.

The Day I Hit A Home Run at Principal Park

Michel "Fuji" Powers stands at the plate in the heavy rain with the count two and two. He is one pitch away from living out his dream and hitting a homerun at Principal Park. Along the way to becoming a local legend, Fuji learns the importance of family, and there is one special girl along the way. This book gives you a taste of all kinds of excitement and adventure with hilarious stories like fishing in spooky Creeper's pond and makes reference to many parts of life in Des Moines like the Art Center and our beloved I-Cubs. This story will fill you with familiarity and keep you on the edge of your seat with its thrilling ending.

Our group has really enjoyed this book because it has a great plot and a great setting. The fact that this book is set in Des Moines lets us connect to the characters that much more. This story has all the elements of a good book for summer reading with sports, romance, adventure, and humor. We hope you can enjoy this book as much as we did.

Peak by Roland Smith

We are reading the book Peak by Roland Smith. It is about a 14-year-old boy named Peak Marcello who is on a journey to the top of the world, Mount Everest. His father is the famed climber Joshua Wood and Josh has just now startedto play a role in Peak's life. This book has many interesting characters such as Zopa, a mysterious monk, Sun-jo a young Nepalese boy that is a week older than Peak. Sun-jo is also Zopas grandson. Peak got his fame by climbing a skyscraper in New York. As Peak journeys up the mountain he and Sun-jo face many challenges from treacherous ice walls to dangerous weather. As Peak makes his way up Everest he changes on the inside as well as on the outside becoming aware how important the family he left in New York is to him. In the end Peak decides that all he gains by summitting is ego, while Sun-jo can get enough money to send him and his sisters to school.

Starclimber by Kenneth Oppel

We have been reading Starclimber, by Kenneth Oppel. This is set in a time period when women have no rights to vote, and no one has ever been to outer space. Although this never happened in history, the only mode of air travel are ornithopters and airships. The main character is a 17 year old captain of an aerotug Atlas. When he and his girlfriend Kate de' Vries, who met in another airship called the Aurora, are offered a chance in space, both of them leap at the chance. However, there are about 150 men all trying out for the same spot. For a week, it's survival of the fittest. Kate is going as a high altitude zoologist, so she is going no questions asked. He makes a new friend, Tobias, and two adversaries, Shepherd and Bronfman, two test pilots and both are in the aeroforce. That's all I'm going to say right now to avoid any spoilers. In our book club we have been talking about the plot development. Oppel always has a twist at the end. To help us, we have been drawing what we think some of the machanical components would look like. We were also talking about the relationship between Kate and Matt. It is always there, you might not see it, but it's always there. So that's a quick run down of what we have been discussing.

We have been doing exactly what we have been doing and it works for us. Right now, we have finished the book, so we can't really say much without giving out spoilers. However it is a very good end to the trilogy. The other two books were Airborn and Skybreaker. In each book they get progressively higher. First book, it's the ground. Second book, 20,000 feet. Starclimber, 25,000 miles above the earth. In some of our designs of airships Matt might have, we incorperated the telescope devise from the second book. It took sunlight, air, and water, and makes more water, and hydrium, a very light gas that doesn't burn, and smells like mangoes. That's pretty much it. As I said, it's a great book, and you should read it.

Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry

We've been reading the book Gathering Blue in our book club. A companion book to The Giver, we found it very interesting. Kira, the main character, is a crippled orphan in a society where the weak are left to die. She fears for her future when she is called before the all powerful Guardians, but instead is given an unexpected task- as the greatest threader for generations, she must restore and complete the Singer's Robe, a ceremonial and mysterious garment worn only once a year, which tells the past's stories with fabric and thread. But as Kira learns the way of making the colors and the past, she will begin to question the society she was raised in and the task she was given. Then she meets many people just like her, in that they have lost their parents in mysterious accidents. She meets Thomas The Carver, a boy just about her age, and Jo, a small tyke, a child who is destined to be The Singer. As The Gathering approaches, things grow weirder and Kira begins to question her community even more than before.

No Child's Game

Five kids living in the USA in 2083 sign up to be on a reality TV show. It will take Place in Antarctica, replicating Robert F. Scott's 1922 journey there. In a world run by TV, this is a huge honor. There's a $100,000 prize for the kid who is voted Most Valuable Player. But will any of them survive?

So far, our group is really enjoying this book. It's really suspenseful and has good character development. It's a lot like The Hunger Games because it's futuristic, kids are in danger for a TV show, and life isn't fair. Everyone in our group would reccommend it to almost anyone!

Th1rteen R3asons Why- Jay Asher

Our group is reading Th1rteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. It is about a teenager named Hannah Baker who commits suicide. The book tells her 7 tapes - or 13 reasons why she killed herself. The book is from the perspective of Clay Jensen, and also is narrarated by Hannah on her tapes. Clay finds out that if you recieve these tapes then you are one of the thirteen reasons why she killed herself. You are to listen to all of the tapes, then send them off to the next person on the list. This book shows the real reasons why Hannah killed herself. It also showed the second side to all of the rumors being spread: the truth. The ending to this book was split on opinions. Some of us believed it could have had more information, while some of us thought the ending was perfect. The author left you wondering and left Clay's future up to you. If Thirteen Reasons Why was turned into a sequel, we think that the author should switch perspectives of the characters in the book. Thirteen Reasons Why shows cause and effect and how little things can add up to much more important things. We really recommend it and hope more people will realize how much one little action can hurt someone so much.

Cracker, The Best Dog in Vietnam by Cynthia Kadohata

After moving into a new apartment, Willie is forced to give up his best friend, a German Shepard named Cracker. She is given to the military where she becomes a scout dog after much training with her new human, Rick. I personally liked the first thought of this book because I always enjoy dog books and I always enjoy war books as well. Now that I am reading this book I love how the author is descriptive. Not only does she paint the scene in your mind perfectly but she also makes Cracker's thoughts and actions completely realistic. Cracker thinks and acts exactly as you think a dog would. I like how Kadahota wrote a book about a part of war most people don't think about, with dogs involved. I didn't even know there were scout dog platoons in the Vietnam War. Even though there was not a lot of explosions, or heads blown off, it was still exciting. There were still surprises and cliffhangers. Like the anticipation built up when Rick thinks something is wrong about the village they are searching or Cracker has to take a different jeep. Overall this book earns 8 stars out of 10. It has an interesting plot, it is realistic, it is historicly accurate, and it has plenty of thrills.

Skinny dipping at monster lake Brandon Tony Noah Alex Jack

the book we are reading is skinny dipping at monster lake basicly says it all.
Mainly the book is about the boys (kent jordan Daniel Ted and ted's dad) who decide to one night have a camping trip at cedar lake,a lake down the road.What the boys don't know is that the lake is home to a sea monster.The boys think they would have a
normal night decide to go skinny dipping in the lake find a suprise in store for them.Having two big yello eyes staring at them the boys go panicing out of the water.to go tell their parents teds dad is the only one to belive them.

Gathering blue

We are currently reading gathering blue by Lois lowry. It is the companion book to the giver. We have enjoyed the book so far, and recommend that you read it! Kira is newly an orphan and is handicapped. She faces many challenges along the way and has friends to help her deal with her new lifestyle. When she is given an important task in the community, she must put her special weaving skills to the test. When she discovers a magic scrap of fabric, it just makes her life that much harder to understand! It is a thrilling book with new twists each chapter. We are so excited to see how it all comes together in the third book, the messenger!

Top 8 by Katie finn

We have been reading top 8. Top 8 is about a girl named Maddison who's friendverse profile was hacked. Are group discovered that friendverse was like facebook. Also Maddison blamed many people for hacking her profile and no one she blamed did it. So far we have not found out who hacked her. We are getting close to the end and will blog once we finish the book

Distant waves

This book is a mystery about a real history event that killed many people.It is about the Titanic 5 sisters aboard the Titanic and only 4 come off alive.....but which 4. This book is a thriller, it has suppence,history and of course ROMANCE! If you like to read suspencefull stories this is a good book for you. We have finished the book and were very surprised by the ending. It is a nail biter until the ending. I you have ever seen the movie Titanic that is kindof what this book is like. We liked this book a lot and would reccomend it to any one who likes history and a suspencful love story. Just because this book has LOVE in it doesn't keen that guys can't read it to.

Gym candy

No child's game by Lauren vespa, Caity Borne, Kassidy hays,Katie markey, and Marissa koci

Our group is reading a book called No Child's Game. This book is based in the time period 2083, so there are some things in this book that we have never even thought about. There are five main characters in the story, they are Polly, grace, Robert, billy, and Andrew. They are going to be the next contestants on historical survivor in Antarctica. Keep in mind this society is way more advanced so a lot more people watch tv. They even have school on the tv! Kids are required to watch at least three hours of "teleschool" a day. So these kids are going on a journey that could either lead to death or fame.

Dear John

"Dear John" and with those words caused pain. Have you ever had a broken heart because if so you could relate to this loving couple. John is in the army an travels all over the world. In a way that's good because of their letters but it can also
lead to bad things. He is dating a girl named Savannah and they plan on getting married after he his done in war. But things may change. During war Savannah's and John's relationship grows further appart. Savannah may start to realize that her and John were maybe not ment to be.

Cracker Group blog Billy t, Grant T, Gunther, Adam H, Cody C

Cracker is a book about a dog and a man, and their adventures in the Vietnam war. Cracker (the dog) is a loving yet territorial German Shepard that is sent off to Vietnam when her owner (willie) can't keep her anymore. Rick Hanski is drafted into the war as a dog handler. He is paired up with Cracker and at first things don't go so well. Cracker and Rick have to go through lots of intensive training and fake scenarios. In one, Cracker finds a booby trap but Rick ignores her. He end up getting caught in it and embarrassed. He learns his lesson though. In his first day in Vietnam, they encounter the villagers who are poor but can also be a sign of danger. After his first day Rick and Cracker have their first mission: to lead a search team. They end up succeeding greatly and are soon respected even though it is his second day. After his first mission Rick and Cody go on a Special Forces mission. (SF for short) They have to break an American out of a Vietnamese prison where he is being held captive. Once they are there there are booby traps left and right. Cracker does a good job but then a warning sign by the Vietnamese is spotted and they are thrust into a heated battle. Gunshots and explosions separate Cracker and Rick. Rick gets shot in the leg and has to go through rehab but will be deported back to America. Meanwhile Cracker is trying to survive in the Vietnam jungles. Cracker is on the run. She sees Vietnamese and they want to kill her. They will pay up to 20000 dollars for a search dogs ear. That is how hated the Americans are in Vietnam. Cracker eventually finds the camp Rick was at but he is gone in the hospital. She travels to Benwa and finds American soldiers. They take her to a kennels and send her back to thr USA. Meanwhile Rick Is almost paranoid. He has to find Cracker. The he gets the phone call of his lice: they've found Cracker and she's coming home. He reunites her and Willie at the airport in the USA. Then he takes her home.

Gym candy: Eric nelson, sam frederes, and sebastien mueller

We are reading the book Gym Candy by Carl Dueker. This book is about a
kid called Mick Johnson who dreams of playing in the NFL. When he
gets to the high school team, his efforts don't seem to be enough. And
of course, he wouldn't settle for JV. So even with rough weight training,
eating healthy, and protein shakes, he doesn't get what he wants. That
is when he hears about D-boll, a steroid. He decides that it would be ok
to take it until the season starts to build up some muscle and weight, but
what he doesn't realize is how hard it will be to stop.

Uprising by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Uprising has three main charactors, Bella, Yetta and Jane. Bella arrives in New York from Italy and gets a job at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, working long hours under hard conditions. Yetta came from Russia and helps the shirtwaist factory workers rise up in a strike. Jane, a wealthy girl, finds out about the strike and wants to help any way she can. On March 25,1911 a spark catches on to some cloth and the shirtwaist factoy is ingulfed in flames. 2 girls dies, one survives. Who will it be? Read the book and find out who the mysterious Mrs.Livingston is.
This story has a vein of truth. A particularily big vein, as this quote from the authors note points out: "The shirtwaist strike of 1909-10 really happened. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of March 25, 1911, really happened." Haddix did a really good job of describing everything, up to the point where you couldn't tell what was real and what had sprung from the authors imagination. "So I won't tell you which parts didn't really happen." another quote from the authors note that states that we are free to research it ourselves, but what fun would that be? There's a reason Haddix chose not to tell us what was real, and while I don't think I know exactly why she did this, I can guess and my guess is as good as yours. My guess is that she didn't want us to be weighted down with the possibility that we learned about real people who really died and connected with them. She might also wants us to let our imagination soar with facts about stuff, even when we didn't know we were learning.

The Black Book Of Secrets--t.Parker, m.jacobson, b. Mardis, m.delsol, t.frankel

This book is very interesting. I like this book a lot because it has a lot of twists. It is a good book. Very suspensful makes you want more
very good characters too. Also the story line is very easy to follow.
The story is interesting and nothing like Any book I have read. I also think the characters are creative. I think the plot is unique. The book can be related to real life and it difficulties.

Peak by Roland Smith

cody c, The Last Apprentice

Cody C.
I have recently read the book called The Last Apprentice: Curse of the Bane by Joseph Delaney. It is about a character named Tom Ward. He is an apprentice to the Spook and together they hunt creatures like witches. In this book travels back to Priestown to battle his biggest enemy, the Bane. When he is there he realizes that the Bane is not his only enemy and must also battle the Quisitor. He reaches a closer bond with John, the spook, but John always tries to appear insensitive. This is based in a medieval time but with magic, witches, and other fake creatures.

I rated this book a four out of five because I liked it but I didn't feel like i could connect with the characters. Joseph Delaney did an excellent job of thinking out his plot. He also did a great job at writing the book in a spooky sort of way, it made me apprehensive after I was reading. Most of the time I wont finish a spooky book or even pick one up, I almost rated this one badly because it isn't the type of book I usually read. Thanks to Joseph Delaney I am giving them a second chance. This book is just as much adventure as it is mystery and a thriller.

A quote i was interested by in this book was " It was a remedy taught to Alice by a witch. A remedy that worked. The ways of the world were strange. Out of evil good could come, and it wasn't just my hand. Because of Alice and her pact with the bane the spook had been saved." In this quote you can see some character development. Tom can now see that not everyone is as they seem, along with where it says "out of evil good can come" it goes hand and hand with the quote and it took me a minute to think it all through. I think that Tom may have thought about this more and I predict that in the next book he gives up hunting for odd and magical creatures. I personally would be incapable of having a job like that because I can't kill a person, even if they are a witch in cold blood. I think this book had a lot of quotes partially like this but this one stuck out a lot more than any others. The part that caught my eye was Out of evil good can come.

In conclusion I think this book was good but should not be read as a school book because some people will dislike it a lot. If you decide you have some free time I highly recommend reading it.

Trackers

Dear Friends,

I recently finished the book, Trackers by Patrick Carmen. I started reading this book as a free reading book, something to keep my mind busy. Then I liked it so much I had to write my letter essay on it. I rated this book a seven out of ten stars because while it was good and had a very interesting plotline, with lots of twists and surprises, it used a lot of technological words that most people wouldn’t understand. I had to look up many words, which I didn’t like because it takes away from the story if I have to look up a word every two pages. It slowed down as the book reached the end, but because they used the same words or more understandable synonyms. Other than that, it was a very enjoyable book.

Throughout the book, the character development for the main character stopped after about the first seven-ten chapters. It started back up again in only the last couple of chapters. The other characters, important people but not the main character, continued to grow and change throughout the story.. In the beginning, you learn about the main character, Adam, and how he got into computers at a very young age. It also explains how he came to meet his friends, Finn, Lewis, and Emily. You would expect people like Adam, Lewis, and Emily to hang out together because they are all tech-savvy people, but Adam really only met Lewis and Emily because he and Finn ran into each other one day at school. The four of them hung out all the time after that.

One of my favorite quotes from this book is:

“Lazlo wasn’t about to make it that easy. We weren’t going to step right in and run the place. Sure, we’d proved ourselves, but not enough. Not nearly enough.

I don’t understand.

We had to prove ourselves one last time.

A test?

Yeah, a test.”

This quote stood out to me because not only had they tracked these people using the internet and pure intelligence. Now even though they had clearly shown how intellectual they could be and how familiar they are with tracking technologically, they still had to prove themselves worthy to join this group that Lazlo ran, with his first recruit, Zara, to help him, the ISD. The ISD worked to stop Shantorian, an infamous hacker. They needed the help of the Trackers, but they didn’t feel quite comfortable letting them in even though the trackers had the ability to, in essence, shut down the internet, yet they still decided to put them through one more test, push their limits a little bit farther. I was thinking that they were going to crack. I was wrong, and the tests turned out to be one of the best parts.

I loved this book and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a very tech-y book. This book’s author, Patrick Carman, is also the writer of the Skeleton Creek, and Trackers is like Skeleton Creek in that they both come with videos posted online that go with the story. This was a great book and I enjoyed it a lot, even with all the confusing words.

Sincerely,

Emilie Hulse