BOOK REVIEWS BY KIDS
AUTHOR ARTICLES
ACTIVITIES INSIDE
Featured:
Meet the Reviewers: Liam
PuzzleMania
By Glenn Dallas, Jr.
Meet the Reviewers: Alina
Kids’ Drawings
Meet the Reviewers: Christina
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Reviews Inside! MAY 2014 COVER: SUPER BOOK BOY
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Welcome to KBR’s Children’s Book Week!
T his is our 6th year participating in this program organized by the Children’s Book Council. We have 56 kids -- including our own Superhero on the cover -- involved, who reviewed a whopping 177 books! T hey read for prizes donated by the publishers. Boy, did they read! We hope you enjoy this special issue as much as we love putting it together every year.
Children’s
The Pigeon Needs a Bath! By Mo Willems Hyperion, $16.99, 40 pages, Format: Hard
««««« The Pigeon needs a bath is super funny just like all the pigeon books in Mo Willems series. I love how he doesn’t want to get into the tub but in the end something very surprising happens. It reminds me of how I feel about a bath sometimes. The illustrations are perfect and make the book even better. My mom and I laughed through the entire book. I loved that the words were big so I could find words that I recognized. MY big brother could read it to me too. I loved when the pigeon said he doesn’t need a bath because he took one last month, that part reminds me of how my brother acts when it is bath time at our house. My favorite picture is the page where the pigeon is in the bathtub and the words SPLASH are writ-
ten really big. I love how the letters look like they splashed just like the water coming out of the tub. I would tell everyone to read this book, even grownups.
Reviewed by Ben, Age 3
Children’s
Pinkalicious and the Perfect Present By Victoria Kann Harper, $16.99, 32 pages, Format: Hard ««««.5 This book is about Pinkalicious and the lesson she learns about presents. She and her mom were riding their bikes when they saw a yard sale. They stop to look. Two of her friends show up at the same sale and they play with the things being sold. They have a lot of fun. Pinkalicious’s mom gives her two dollars to buy anything that she wants. After looking around for a while she doesn’t find anything interesting. Then she comes up with an idea: look for things that are pink. She finds a lot of pink things at the sale that she wants. Then she finds a pink music box that plays a song that her mom really likes. She buys that instead of anything for herself and surprises her mom with the music box later. At the end, she realizes that sometimes the best presents are the ones you give. I liked the book because the moral of the story was good. This book is for readers at level 1 so would be good for beginning readers. Older kids wouldn’t like this book as much. Reviewed by Hannah, Age 8
Mama’s Day with Little Gray By Aimee Reid, Laura J. Bryant, Illustrator Random House Books for Young Readers, $16.99, 32 pages, Format: Hard
«««« This is about elephants. Just two gray elephants. They are animals who can talk. It is the mother and the baby. The mama is really big and the baby elephant is small. The baby says he loves to play. He tells his mama what he would do if he was the mama. They walk through the green grass and they go by some trees. He says he would go where she wanted to and he would stay close to her. He would give her some leaves to eat, and he would shade her. Then they play in the water and they splash in the water and splash each other. They make mud and roll in the mud. There is a picture of the little elephant in the clouds that they see. The baby likes to watch the clouds with the mother elephant. Now I am sleepy and the elephants are sleepy. The elephants do love each other. They are nice elephants that I want to snuggle and play with and I would play with them in the water. Reviewed by Liesel, Age 3
The Fly (Disgusting Creatures) By Elise Gravel Tundra Books, $10.99, 32 pages, Format: Hard ««««.5 This is a Disgusting Critters book. It is the first one I have read. I can’t wait to read more. I liked reading this book because it is cool and funny. It used gross words like poo! This book is all about the housefly. In the beginning of the book it taught me about other types of flies. I learned that there are more than 100,000 species of flies! I learned a lot about houseflies. The housefly has red eyes that can see in all directions. The housefly has hair. The housefly can walk on the ceiling because he has tiny bubbles of liquid at the end of his feet.
Children’s
“I’LL HAVE THE GARBAGE JUICE SOUP FOR STARTERS, FOLLOWED BY THE DIRTY DIAPER WITH ROTTEN TOMATO SAUCE.” The housefly can only eat liquid foods. The housefly spits on his food to make it soft for him to eat. The female can lay over one hundred eggs at one time. First, it is a maggot. Then, a pupa. Finally, a fly. Houseflies only live fifteen to thirty days. This book was easy and fun for me to read. Other kids would like to read this book, if they like to learn new things. Reviewed by Adam, Age 6
The Worm (Disgusting Critters) By Elise Gravel Tundra Books, $10.99, 32 pages, Format: Hard
««««« This book is about worms. It has cute drawings. There’s a grandpa worm with a white beard, sitting in a rocking chair. Worms don’t have any legs – except the white worm. The maggot is my favorite. He’s cute. The big worm lives in the ocean. One worm habitat is inside a dog. The earthworm says, “Hey! I am not disgusting.” Worms were here at the time of dinosaurs. (There were giant bugs, so I can believe there were giant worms too.) They don’t have any eyes. They have photoreceptors. I like the diagram of a worm moving. Worms eat rotten plants. Worms aren’t boys or girls. They are both. Some people eat worms. (I wouldn’t eat a worm.)
WHAT? DELICIOUS? NO, NO, NO! I’M DISGUSTING! I’M DISGUSTING!
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1. Pageant-winner’s prize 5. “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” author Carle 9. Sit on Santa’s ____ 12. Brainstorm 13. Loch ____ 14. Less than two 15. Author of “Matilda” 17. Phone-company abbr. 18. Circle 19. Bert’s best friend 21. City bird 24. Feeling of “wow!” 25. Exclusively 26. Author of “A Series of Unfortunate Events” 30. From A to N, from ____ Z 31. Enjoys books 33. Nest egg, for short 34. Author of the Harry Potter series 36. Vacation 37. Out, in Canada 38. Car stoppers 40. Happen
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43. ____ dunk 44. TV remote button 45. Author of “The Tale of Despereaux” 50. New Year’s ____ 51. Levine of “The Voice” 52. ____-do-well 53. Man in stripes on the football field 54. Zero 55. Doorway in a fence
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1. Knight’s title 2. “Much ____ About Nothing” 3. Big body of water 4. Famous comet discoverer 5. ____ a high note 6. Harvest 7. Sorta 8. Author of the Chronicles of Narnia series 9. Temporary gift 10. Against 11. Disney dragon’s pal 16. Scooby-____
20. DVR button 21. Not rich 22. ____ thin air 23. Give off light 24. “Phineas ____ Ferb” 26. Droop 27. “Star Trek” captain 28. Great Lake 29. Knocks gently 31. Author of the Percy Jackson series 32. Tolkien talking tree 35. Gehrig of baseball 36. Circus act involving lions 38. Hold responsible 39. Lamb’s dad 40. “Somewhere ____ the Rainbow” 41. Small bay 42. Musical symbol 43. Skim quickly 46. Wedding words 47. Michele of “Glee” 48. Allow 49. Raw metal
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Early Reader
Magic in the Park: A Matter-of-Fact Magic Book By Ruth Chew Random House Children’s, $15.99, 138 pages, Format: Hard
«««« A girl named Jennifer and a boy named Mike met at a park where there was a tree that moved around and would disappear! Jennifer and Mike were the only ones who noticed the tree moving. There was an island in the lake, and they walked across a tree branch to get to the island. This took them underground, but Jennifer didn’t realize it until it was too late. Luckily, they came back to the tree and managed to get out. The next day, they climbed into the tree. That turned them into pigeons! Jennifer lost Mike, who was now one hungry bird; Jennifer found him eating peanuts at the zoo. They met a raven who told them how to turn back into humans. They followed the directions of the raven, and it worked. They were human again! Later, the raven asked Mike to make a trapeze for him in the
magic tree. While working on the trapeze, Mike accidentally fell into the tree and became a bird again! If you want to know what happens to Mike, read the book! I would recommend this book to kids who like crazy things. I liked this book because there was a lot of weird stuff in it. Reviewed by Murphy, Age 8
The Case of the Buried Bones (Milo & Jazz Mysteries) By Lewis B. Montgomery, Amy Wummer, illustrator The Kane Press, $6.95, 112 pages, Format: Trade
Early Reader
««««« It was the day that they were going to unbury the time capsule. But when they did, all they found was a skeleton! Then, a very old lady came up and said that the skeleton’s name was Herman – it was only a school skeleton, and it was stolen seventy-five years ago. The old lady told them about an old school prankster, and found a note in the skeleton’s mouth, challenging everyone to find the time capsule. Gordy, the school prankster now, said that the person who wrote the poem was his great-great-grandfather. He said he knew where the time capsule was hidden, so he went away on his scooter. Everyone ran after him. When Milo and Jazz got there, they saw a lot of people trying to find the time capsule in their yard, but Gordy’s mom didn’t like people in her nice clean yard. Milo and Jazz tried to figure it out. They talk about some stuff and Gordy hears them so now they have a race to see who will find the people who know about it first.
“THEY FOUND THE DEAD FISH, BECAUSE IT WAS STINKY, BUT TO FIND THE TIME CAPSULE WILL TAKE DEEPER THINKING. WHERE IS IT HIDDEN? WHO’LL TRACK IT DOWN? IS THERE ANYONE TRICKY ENOUGH IN THIS TOWN?” I like this book a lot because it just, well, whenever you thought something was going to be scary it turned out to be pretty funny. I want to go back and read the other books in this series! Reviewed by Rachel, Age 7
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Liam, age 10
My name is Liam and I am a new reviewer for Kids’ Book Review. I enjoy reading and do it as much as I can. Some recent books I’ve read and liked are Wonderstruck, Hugo Cabret, Divergent and Insurgent, Fablehaven, all of the Harry Potter books, Because of Winn Dixie, and Al Capone Does My Shirts. My very favorite books of all time are The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis, Don’t Look Back by Karrin Fossum, and A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park. When I read these books, I couldn’t put them down and I still think about them. I recommend reading any of the books I listed especially my two favorites. To tell you about myself, I am the youngest of six kids in my family and the fifth boy. I have a step-dad and step-mom and five step-sisters and a step-brother. I am a good student and am a Webelo rank in Cub Scouts Pack 338. My favorite subject in school is reading, and my least favorite is writing, but sometimes when I write I can’t stop. I also enjoy poetry and music. My mom is teaching me to play the piano and gives me piano lessons every week. Next year,in fifth grade, I will begin studying the violin, too. I play soccer and tackle football and am looking forward to attending day camp for scouts this summer. I play games on our computers at home and like to watch funny YouTube videos.
MESSAGE FROM MY TEACHER, MRS. HUNT Liam is a wonderful student!! He is highly mature, an avid reader, a mathematician, and a friend to everyone. It’s been a pleasure to watch him grow and learn this year. He has read 56 books this school year alone! He understands word meaning and story ideas beyond his age, and clearly LOVES reading! You can find him reading before school, during any free time, at recess, and after school. Reading is ALWAYS his activity of choice. Liam has also accumulated an amazing 3,193,001 words read! This is truly incredible! Words read are calculated after students take quizzes using the Accelerated Reader program. If students pass the quiz, the total number of words in the book is added to the student’s word count. The fourth grade word count goal is 500,000, and many students do not reach that. Liam has surpassed this goal five times over! Wow!! With Liam’s love of reading, fantastic attitude, and quick intelligence, I know he will go far! Congratulations Liam!!
Tweens
The Hero’s Guide to Being an Outlaw By Christopher Healy, with illustrations by Todd Harris Walden Pond Press, $16.99, 528 pages, Format: Hard
««««« Have I never read any of these books? All three books have the funniest covers that the more you look at them the more funny things you see. The book is just as funny and it is a big book, so be ready for some serious reading. The Hero’s Guide to Being an Outlaw is about the four Prince Charmings who are accused of killing Briar Rose and so they end up on this wacky adventure that sends them basically everywhere trying to prove they’re innocent and save the kingdom, from pirates to the desert. Did I mention along for the ride is also Snow White, Rapunzel, Cinderella, and Princess Lila?
“I AM NOT GOING TO CALL YOU PETALBLOSSOMBREEZESONG. IT’S A RIDICULOUS NAME.” If you like fairy tales and have grown up on Disney movies like me, you will find this book is fast paced and each chapter just gets better. The way the author describes stuff is just very unique and I know I couldn’t stop laughing. Princess Lila is crazy. She named her horse Radish and then laughs at herself. She is probably my favorite character. If you are looking for a book that definitely different and not like most books, then you have to read this one! Reviewed by Avery, Age 10
Tweens
Eddie Red Undercover: Mystery on Museum Mile By Marcia Wells HMH Books for Young Readers, $16.99, 256 pages, Format: Hard
«««« In this book, a boy named Eddie Red becomes involved in a case of crime. When his dad lost his job, they needed money so Edmund (Eddie) could go to school. Eddie and his dad get taken to the police station because they saw two people fighting and a man with a bloody knife. At the police station Eddie is invited to take the case and help them solve the crime. Edmund is not supposed to get involved, but he decides that he needs to get involved more and needs more information than Detective Bovano is giving him. Eddie is sent to different museums to copy the faces of all the people who come by. One day he spies the whole gang of thieves, also known as the Picasso Gang. He calls the police department, but when he turns back, everyone is gone. Will Eddie Red be able to catch the gang? Will he save the day? Will Eddie ever be able to go back to his school again? This book was fun because there was a lot of action and a lot of mystery. It was annoying that the author kept saying ‘uber’ every other sentence. I like how this book was figured out and how it was pieced together. I think it would be fun to get the other books that might be coming out. Reviewed by Miriam, Age 10
The King’s Dragon (Three Thieves) By Scott Chantler, Scott Chantler, Illustrator Kids Can Press, $17.95, 112 pages, Format: Hard
Tweens
««««« This graphic novel is the fourth book in the Three Thieves series. I haven’t read the others, but I was still able to jump right into the story. I really was first interested in the title, and was expecting the King’s Dragon to be an actual dragon. But there’s no dragons, or even a king! At least not since the king died and his daughter took over as queen. Captain Drake’s memories are brought up to help capture the three thieves, but really it’s telling about how they’re all in a monastery and almost catch one of the thieves. The present time parts are done in color, and the memories are in classic black and white. Captain Drake’s memories are the pieces to a puzzle, but will he have the imagination to see how they all go together? Of course, since I haven’t read the first books, I don’t know if Captain Drake’s memories were part of the earlier books, or how much I should know about the three thieves from the earlier stories. But now I mostly just want to know when the next book comes out. Read it! It’s a great story! Reviewed by Linda, Age 10
Plague (Secrets and Spies) By Jo Macauley Stone Arch Books, $8.95, 224 pages, Format: Trade
««««« Plague has taken over London! In this book, Beth Johnson, John Turner, and Ralph Chandler once again become involved in a plot to kill the King. Beth has to leave London because of the plague. Soon she finds that she is needed to help stop the plot. Beth is given a clue to help her discover the plan. One of the conspirators is dead and soon another is captured. But there are still two left to find. Soon they discover that the conspirators will attack during the show. Will Beth and her friends be able to save the King? Will they find out who is behind the plot? Find out in Plague(Secrets and Spies)! I liked this book because it was very descriptive and mysterious. I also liked that it always left me wondering what would happen next. I liked that no matter what happened, the friends always looked out for each other. I loved that Beth and her friends always wanted to stick and work together. My favorite part was when Beth asked the King to not kill the lion. Reviewed by Miriam, Age 10
Back by popular demand! The nationally acclaimed performance troop The Story Pirates
THEODORE BOONE and the
THRILL OF RIGHTS Coming to the San Francisco Area May 7-12 based upon John Grisham’s #1 New York Times bestselling Theodore Boone series for middle grade kids. Making Appearances at Book Passage Copperfield’s Books Rakestraw Linden Tree and numerous area schools
Young Adult
Zom-B Gladiator By Darren Shan Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, $15.00, 176 pages, Format: Hard
««««« The cover alone on this book makes this book ultra-appealing. Zom-B Gladiator is book six in this series, and while I have only read this one and number four, they are great standalone books, though I do recommend reading the entire series if you have the chance so you better understand exactly who B is. Back for another round, this is definitely one action-packed story where B has been sent out on scouting missions, but is lured in with a trap and is captured. She is forced to fight other zombies gladiator- style for the amusement of a crowd, and if that isn’t just sick and twisted to think about, there is more. Meet Dan Dan. He gets his thrills from torturing and then
murdering children and the crowd he surrounds himself with aren’t any more mentally stable than him. However, he doesn’t find his demise in this book; not yet.
“YOU CAME FOR ANSWERS AND I’VE GIVEN THEM TO YOU. NOW LEAVE ME ALONE. IT’S ALL I ASK OF YOU. IT’S ALL I ASK OF ANYONE.” I loved this book and wish I had the entire series now. B is such a strong and focused character that it is difficult to find any flaws with her. I appreciate that author Darren Shan knows how to take an indepth story and keep it so simple, making this a breeze of a read. If you are into zombies, you will want to pick up this book. It’s worth every star!
Young Adult
Reviewed by Janessa, Age 16
The Nightmare Dilemma (Arkwell Academy) By Mindee Arnett Tor Teen, $17.99, 384 pages, Format: Hard
««« Dusty and Eli have a special relationship. Dusty is a Nightmare, who feeds on dreams. Eli is her partner, and through his dreams they can predict the future. Dusty and Eli, and Dusty’s friend Selene, attend Arkwell Academy, where teenage magic users and monsters go to school. Ever since Dusty broke The Will, there has been unrest between the different factions of magickind. The naturekind are upset about pollution and the environment, and the darkkind are tired of being villainized. Dusty and her friends try to figure out who is spreading the contention, and also if the evil warlord from the last book is coming back, and they interpret the dreams that both Dusty and Eli have been having, all while trying to survive tempestuous high school conditions. This has the lamest excuse ever for keeping people apart. It is a totally contrived plot device – a prophecy that they can’t love each other. Despite this prophecy, Dusty and Eli manage to fit in plenty of emotional angst. But then it is made into a love triangle with Dusty’s ex-boyfriend, who is now out of jail and back in school, as hot as ever. Tedious. I think the plot, when it wasn’t angsty, was enjoyable, but the afore-mentioned reasons brought my rating down to three stars. Reviewed by Gretl, Age 13
Treason (Secrets and Spies) By Jo Macauley Capstone Young Readers, $8.95, 224 pages, Format: Trade
Young Adult
««««« This book mixes spies with a little bit of history, of London in the time when Guy Fawkes was going to explode the Houses of Parliament. A spy called Beth is trying to find out how some other people are doing a show before they even do it. After she finds out the criminal who turns out to be the costume maker, she hears the signal that night that she needs to go to the bell tower to meet her spymaster, Sir Alan Strange. She finds out that she needs to inspect a mysterious ship that’s appeared on the river. She was hoping for a more interesting case, but as she gets deeper into the mystery, she finds it is more dangerous than she expected. Along the way she meets a young boy named John Turner who helps her on this mysterious case. At first, it seems to not be very helpful, but it turns out to be a good idea in the end. I thought this book was a fascinating story of fantasy mixed with history. I also liked the way the plot was done and how everything turned out all right in the end, but just barely. I really like the cast of characters, because they were smart and intelligent and worked together like a team. Reviewed by Miriam, Age 10
Mistwalker By Saundra Mitchell HMH Books for Young Readers, $16.99, 320 pages, Format: Hard
««« In a dinky little town off the coast of Maine, Willa feels lost and without hope in the fall after her brother’s death. She feels responsible for her brother and watches in despair as her family falls apart and feels it is all her fault. Her dreams of marrying her boyfriend and taking up her family’s tradition of lobster fishing dissolve. A hundred years ago, Grey had become infatuated with Susannah, a wraithlike bit of mist on an island in the middle of the sea. The first time he kissed her, he unknowingly sealed a bargain that she would be freed and he would become the wraith who would be enslaved until either he found someone to take his place or collect a thousand souls. After a hundred years, he has only collected four, and is becoming desperate. In Willa, he sees a chance for freedom. The coolest part of this book was the lighthouse that Grey lived in, because it changed around however he wanted it to. The rest was rather underwhelming. For example, Willa has random temper tantrums and is steeped in self-pity; nor does she realize what others
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