Wonderstruck

Two stories in one, these two characters are very related. One story is in words and one is only in pics. The one in pictures takes place before the other. It's about a deaf girl who lives near New York city but is never allowed to go, because she won't be able to tell if a car is coming. Her mom is a famous broadway actress and she sneaks out of her house to go see her rehearse. Her mom didn't like that idea. The mom got very upset and was going to organize a trip[ for her to go back, but she escapes, and meets her older brother, who she had never heard of before.

The story in words is about a kid named Ben who lives in MInnesota. He was born deaf in one ear, and during a storm he was using the phone, and lightning hit his house, and went through the phone lines and made him deaf in the other. His mother dies, and when he looks through some of her things he finds something mysterious. It was a book given to her by someone named Daniel. Could this be her boyfriend? he never knew of his dad because his mom never talked about it. There was an address in the book to where he lived. It is in New York city. He travels there all by himself and adventually meets an old lady who knows him, but he doesn't know her. It was his grandmother, the girl from the story in pictures.

What I liked about it:

I liked how there were two stories going at once. It just made it a lot more interesting. I also liked how they were both deaf. Obviously not that it's good to be deaf, but how they learned to f=deal with it, even though it made their lives very rough. I also liked how they were connected. I wasn't expecting that.

What I didn't like:

I didn't like how the writing was just writing. There was no pictures for the story with Ben. Te pictures are the best part, just because they are soooo good! It was also confusing because both of the stories were going on at the same time. It would 4 pages of Ben, and then 4 pictures for Rose. I also didn't read the inside cover which said that was happening, sooo yeah.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Hugo a 12 year old boy who lives with his father has a big secret. He has a notebook, that has notes and drawings of a strange machine. His father dies in a fire and his uncle takes over responsibility of Hugo. His uncle was a big drinker a goes out one night and never comes back.

What I like about it:

The author is also an illustrator, and about two thirds of the book are drawings. It doesn't take very long to read it, but it's still a great story. I love how the main character is sort of a criminal, but that's just because he lives by himself and he doesn't have any money. It's also really realistic. Not the story but the emotions of the characters. I also liked how the author shows you that you don't have to write amazingly good to publish a book.

What I didn't like about it:

I didn't like how it was long. I think there could have been more pictures and less words. It Mostly less words. It felt a little rushed. Like the author had to write more. That's all I really didn't like.

Percy Jackson: The Titan's Curse

14 year old son of Poseidon Percy Jackson, has never faced as big of a challenge as he does in this one. Nico and Bianca Di Angelo are two kids that don't know quite a bit about themselves. They themselves are also half-bloods. Percy, Grover, and Annabeth must save them at they're middle school dance, from their principal of the school, who by the way is a Minotaur. Annabeth and Artemis gets kidnapped and tortured and they must save them.

What I like about it:

I love how these books are placed in the perspective of a 14 year old boy in modern times. The creatures in it are just awesome, and that makes it really fun to read. The personalities of all the characters are so different and when together, are hilarious. I also like the Gods. For example, in the words of Artemis, Apollo is very immature. Well, I guess it depends on what you define immature. HE DRIVES THE SUN IN A SPORT CAR! That's just awesome.

What I didn't like about it:

One of the things I didn't like about it was at the end everything happened in a span of 20 pages. I am not saying it wasn't exciting at all the other times, but it was just confusing. The only other things I didn't like, was the bad guys. haha

Can't wait to read the others!

Fablehaven 3

You know golems, fairies, nymphs etc. aren't real...THEY ARE!

After Kendra and Seth Serenson find out that there grandparents secretly are caretakers of a safe haven for magical creatures. When Seth sneaks off with his two satyr friends, Newel and Doren, they stumble upon creatures that have been infected with a plague. A plague that a human started. Seth tells everyone back home about it, and that's just the beginning of this magical story.

What I didn't like:

It was kind of a stop and go book. At some points there was a lot of action, but at other times, it went a little slow. I also didn't like how some characters weren't described all too much, while other ones were described in detail. I guess it depends on how important those characters were.

What I liked about it:

In my opinion it was written very well. The whole book really kept me wondering what was going to happen next. There also is a lot of surprises throughout the book. They also had to fight a dragon. I mean who wouldn't want to read about a huge golem getting dressed into battle armor than hitting things with a 3 foot long wooden club?