Kids at Work

I recently did a school report on a man named Lewis Hine. He was a photographer from the late 1800's- to the early 1900's. His more memorable photo's were of the Empire State Building during construction, but the most meaningful one's, are of child labor. After college he became very interested and disgusted in child labor and he felt that someone needed to end it. So, he would travel all around the country to coal mines, glass blowing workshops, the streets of NYC, textile mills and cotton fields risking his own life so others would be better. As you can imagine the bosses of these factories, or mills, etc. didn't want citizens of America to know about the terrible working conditions, so he wasn't allowed to take the photos. But, he always found a way in. One time he even posed as a fire inspector, so he could be let in. The more common ways were going before the bosses would get (early AM) or he would enter during the bosses lunch break.

What did I like about it?

I can't say that i "liked" anything really about it, just because what he photographed was horrible. The kids worked 13 hour shifts 6 days a week! But I was very interested in everything. And it really showed (and scared) me what I and every other kid in America would have to go through if he didn't take the challenge of documenting this.

What I didn't like:

I didn't likehow horrible the bosses were. IN coal mines they wouldn't let the miners (or breaker boys) to wear gloves because they said it was "easier to tell the differnece between coal and slate." And how dumb, gullible and stupid the bosses were to let this happen to their next generation of kids.

Ender's Shadow

WOW! And I thought no book could compare to "Ender's Game"! This meandering storyline made me stay up late at night to read it. "Ender's Shadow" is a companion novel to "Ender's Game". It takes place at the same place and time, but it is in the perspective of Ender's right hand man, Bean. This short boy was named after his size. But it was definately not named after his intelligence. He is probably the second or maybe the smartest kid at Training School, and when he enters Ender's (Dragon) army. With Ender and Bean on the same army they blow up the scoreboards leaving every other army in the dust. Together they take on challenges, but can they save humanity?

What I Liked About It:

Like "Ender's Game" the kids are amazing. They may be 10 but they act and talk like they're a college professor. Also it amazes me how much humanity and the teachers at the school rely on these 7-12 year olds!

What I Didn't Like About It:

I really liked everything about this book but i guess i might be able to think of something...OH YEAH! The only thing I don't like about this book is Graff. He is a very important character in the book but I really don't like him as a character.

Fablehaven Five: Keys to the Demon Prison

With everything else going on, the Sphinx is on the loose and the Serenson crew doesn't know what to do. In the first book we meet the Sphinx as a wise, helpful leader, (Like Dumbledor) but as the stories go on the readers never really know what side he's on (Like Snape). Society of the Evening Star or The Knights of Dawn. As you learn in The fourth book, The Sphinx has control over the "All Seeing Eye," a powerful object that lets you see anywhere, anytime. But only a select few can actually use it. Luckily the Sphinx can't. In all of the secret preserves a secret item was placed years before in a place that no one knows. That's why the "All Seeing Eye" is important. In the last book of the Fablehaven series, the last secret item is up for grabs. And the final item may be the most important of them all. An amazing finale to series!

What I like:

Action, action, action. This series finale is full of it. Left and right, Kendra, Seth, Tanu, Warren, Grandma, Grangpa, and many others have to get of some sticky situations. In one part they travel to a preserve and they have to fight all these amazing mythotical creatures. SO AWESOME!

What I don't like:

In the beginning of the book Brandon Mull came up dry. Or maybe I just couldn't wait for them to fight Dragons, Demons, and everything in between,

Fablehaven Four: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary

This series never seems to disappoint me. Brandon Mull always knows how to keep me up late at night, wondering what's going to happen next. Without giving too much of the story away, I will tell you what the story line is. Kendra and Seth (brother and sister) return back to Fablehaven. But this time Grandpa and Grandma need them back. So lying to their parents, they escape. But, Kendra gets pricked by an EXTREMELY rare speices, a stingbulb. When one gets pricked by a stingbulb, the astonishing fruit creates an identical clone of the human it pricked. So, after Kendra mistakenlt gets pricked, the clone takes place of Kendra. Not to worry though, the clone only lives for a day or two. But while the look-a-like was living with Seth and everyone, she didn't act like Kendra. You see, the stingbulbs cloning abbilities can only do so much. The appearance of the clone is pin-point accurate, but the way it acts, not so much. The Serenson group eventually figures it out and all ends well...sort of. They have to steal many things, and sneak around places they shouldn't. Overall this book is a great read.

What I like about it:

I absolutely loved the fast pace of the book. Even though it is over 500 pages it go so fast that you can never tell when the climax is. It is the fourth book in the 5 book series so their should be good character developement, and there is. There are only few places in the book where I can predict what the Serenson kids are going to do.

What I didn't like about it:

Like I said earlier, the main characters have great personalities, but the other characters not so much. I found myself really only interested in a few of the other characters in the story. There was always things going in the story but, especially in this book there really wasn't that much action, compared with the other books.

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?

Mockingjay

After the Capitol wiped out district 12. The emotion Katniss felt most was anger. In the 3 quarter quell President Snow tried to prove that the Capitol can't be destroyed, but that decision didn't help him. After Katniss comes out of The Hunger Games alive (again) she, and the survivors of District 13 are hiding in District 13 which only the capitol knew still existed. Peeta has been taken in the control of the capitol and has been...basically brainwashed. They need to fight the capitol, but they have to go there, without being seen.

Somethings I liked about this book was that it was very exciting and you never knew what was going to happen next. Throughout the whole series you never really knew how it was going to end. I think the thing i liked the most was that you didn't really like the main character. She was definitely not a bad guy, but she wasn't great.

Something I didn't like was that it was by far the slowest paced, Hunger Games book. The Ending was also a bit disappointing. I feel like there needed to be a longer and fun ending. It sort of seemed like she had to make the book. It seemed like she was forcing herself to write instead of writing it for fun. Only at some points thought. At most parts it seemed like she was writing how she usually does.

The Hunger Games movie comes out March 23, 2012.

Ender's Game

Andrew "Ender" Wiggin is a six year old with a wild life ahead of him. The I.F. battle school w3hich trains kids for to fight against the buggers, and alien species that hass attacked them before. The battle school, only picks the smartest kids in the world to come and train. Ender is one of them. They learn everything they would normally learn at a school on Earth, but in addition they learn how to fight in zero-gravity conditions. Each student is assinged an army that they will learn and train with. And that is just the beginning of this story.

Something I like about it is how you really feel the emotions of the characters. You could tell easily that Orson Scott Card loved writing it. All the sentences flowed together perfectly. The other thing I liked is how he had the most intelligent people in the story. Most books I read that have the main characters as kids, make the children have them looking to the adults, for advice. Int this book it's kids, that are making their own decisions.

Somethings I don't like about it, was that in the beginning not a whole lot of action happened. It was more of an emotional part. It did help you know the character more, but I don't think that he needed to have so much of the story be on that. Just like I wrote in the Mockingjay post, Orson Scott Card, made the character not the mos lovable person. He did go through a lot so I understand why Ender was like that.

I CAN'T WAIT TO READ THE NEXT ONE'S!