Hardy Boys #1 The Tower Treasure

Info about the book
Author: Franklin W.Dixon
Publisher:Grosset & Dunlap
Place and year of publication: New York 1959
Number of pages: 180
Where book was found: C.H.S Library
Genre: Fiction/Mystery

Story Review

The main characters are Frank Hardy, Joe Hardy, Mr. Hardy, Smuff, Chet, Jackley, Mr. & Mrs. Applegate, Mr. Robinson, Jerry, Biff, and Phil. Mr. Robinson was blamed for the crime of stealing the tower treasure which he didn’t commit. Mr Hardy was on the case. He believed that Jackley was the thief and that he needs to fly to where he is and ask him a few questions about the treasure. Smuff was out to ruin Mr. Hardy case. But Joe and Frank wouldn’t let that happen. After school Frank and Joe went outside to think of something, so they called there buds to come help them think of a way of making sure Smuff would miss his flight. They wanted to stall Smuff so he misses his 6 O’clock flight, and has to go on the 7 O’clock flight. So the Hardy’s and there buds went to Rocco’s Fruit and Veggie shop to take over for him while he rested. Smuff is neighbours with Rocco’s shop. So they thought of a plan to stall him for at least 30 minutes. They lit a barrel
full of garbage on fire so Smuff would come and try to be a hero and waste at least 20 minutes of his time witch was good enough. So his flight left without him.

The Hardy’s went to the old tower after Jackley confessed and told their father the info of where to go. Mr. & Mrs. Applegate wanted to know why they were here. The Hardy’s explained the whole story to them so they let them investigate the old & new tower because Jackley didn’t tell them which tower. They searched and searched they went up and down, but didn’t find anything. The second time they searched Mr. Hardy was with them and this time they searched very carefully. They didn’t find anything. But the next day Joe and Frank went to the old tower to look for the treasure. This time when they went to look up stairs the door
was stuck, so they pushed and pushed till the door flew open. There was the treasure, but hobo Johnny said it was his room, so he locked them in the room so they panicked. They tried to what 15 minutes so Hobo Johnny would leave. After 15 minutes they tried there hardest to get out the trap door but it was stuck. So they looked around for another exit. Frank found one spot on the roof were it was dry and looked easy to break through. So he picked up a crowbar and got a boost by Joe and he started smashing the spot till it was big enough to go through. He went up while Joe threw the treasure over to him and climbs up with his brother and go to their motorcycles and ride of to Bayport (which is where they live.) They reported this to the police and they set Mr. Robinson free. Mr. Applegate let them keep some of the treasure. So the Joe and Frank bought a crime lab on the second floor of their barn.

Christian Perspective

This book is not Christian or non Christian. It doesn’t have violence but it doesn’t contain any information on Christ. I believe that this book isn’t Christian, but does not show anything strictly against Christianity. I think there is nothing wrong with the way they responded to what happened. Like when they told the police on the thief, one of the Ten Commandments says you shall not steal. The man who stole also lied, you shall not
lie. I’m not exactly sure if this is a way Jesus would do it. All I know is it’s not exactly the opposite.

My Perspective

I enjoyed the book very much. I recommend the Hardy Boys series to boys who enjoy mystery books as much as I do. I hope whoever has read this book agrees with me.

Indian Captive

Indian Captive
The true story of Mary Jemison.
Retold by Lois Lenski
This book was published in 1941 by the harpercollins printing company in New York. It has 147 pages. I found this book in my scool library.

Mary Jemison lives with her father, mother, 2 brothers, and 3 sisters on their farm in Pennsylvania. It is the year 1758 and they farm corn for a living. Marys father calls her corn tassel because her hair is the colour of corn. He jokes that she doesnt have to worry about Indians because if they saw her they would think she was a stalk of corn and pass her by.

Then one day her house is attacked by Indian warriors. They take her and her younger brother separate from the rest of her family as they travel. When they arrive at the indian camp, she and her brother are separated. She learns to work in the corn and make pots out of river clay. The indians call her corn tassel, reminding her of her father. She learns to work, play, and llive like an indian.

One day a man comes to the camp. He is an englishmen. Her ' sisters' tell her to go hide in the corn field from the drunk native man who wants to sell her to him so he can buy more 'fire water' But when the choice comes to her to either go with th englishmen or stay with her new family, which will she choose?

Christian Perspective

I think that this book could have been written in a more christian perspective but it did have christianity in it. Mary would sometimes pray and recite the lords prayer but she didnt really ask God to help her very much. If she had of handled her problems in a more christian way and prayed more I probably would have liked it more.

My thoughts

I liked this book because it tells about how the senecas live their everyday life and it tells about their culture and ways of life. I reccomend this book to people who like hearing about other cultures and like biographies.

Elena's Book Review October 27

Information

Title: Wendy

Author: Karen Wallace

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

When and where it was published: Great Britain in 2003

Number of pages: 287

Where you found it: In my older sisters book shelf

Story Review

Just like many other children, Wendy Darling, just can't seem to understand grownups. It's all too confusing for a nine year old to comprehend, but soon Wendy must learn to hold on to what she believes even when you get confused by what you see. One night, Wendy, and her younger brother John decide to sneak downstairs and peek through the banister. What they imagined to see, women dancing and music playing, was not close to what they saw. Wendy simply can't erase the images that she has of that night Questions flood into her mind: does my father love someone else? did my mother do something wrong? do I have another brother? Wendy and her two younger brothers Michael, and John, are dragged through a roller coaster of life changing events, and once they finally accept that their family will never have joy or laughter in it ever again, they realize that they had got it all wrong. Yes their parents had had some secrets, but they still loved their children and they still loved each other. Wendy now understands that somethings are too complicated for her to understand but the faith of a child is stronger than any measure of understanding.

Christian Perspective

I Know that this book was not written from a Christian perspective, but I do understand that what wendy goes through in this story is to much for her to handle by her self . That's why we need God in our life. Yes the world can be ugly, but we can't expect it to be perfect because we made it this way. This is not where we will be forever and if Earth was so beautiful, we wouldn't want to leave. This story also shows me that while children grow up they tend to loose that faith that they have for their parents and become more independent. Just like that child, we need to rely fully on Jesus our heavenly father, and trust that he will get us through our struggles.

My Thoughts

I really enjoyed this book and sadly all books must have an end. It was a little bit hard to get into it but once you start reading, you can't put it down. The characters become your family members and you simply forget what problems and struggles you have in your life. You become Wendy and you are far away in the busy, bustling city of London. I would recommend this book to any one ready to go through the struggles wendy has. Someone with a pocketful of imagination, Someone eager for adventure.

Elena Klippenstein

Title: It only looks easy
Author: Pamela Curtis Swallow
Place and year of publication: 2003,New York
Number of pages: 166pg
Where you find the book: Christian Heritage School library.

Kat Randall is a seventh Grader. Her first day of seventh grade is ruined, because her loving pet Cheddar the dog is run over by a woman with Alzheimer’s disease. Kat reacts erratically. During the school hour she "borrows" the bike to check Cheddar. While she's in the Veterinary hospital she gets her "borrowed “bike stolen...
At school most of kids treat her differently than before. Before she felt kids would depend on her and now things have changed. She tried to pay the money back from babysitting and taking care of the woman with Alzheimer's disease who run over Cheddar....
Kat finds out her “friend" Dennis Boyle tries to put her into his crime and make her into bike stealer....
After everybody finds out the truth everybody went back to its place and happily ever after….

Christian Perspective
This book was not written in a Christian perspective. Because if this story was a Christian perspective Kat would of make things differently by praying. She should have prayed during the school hour instead of worrying about her dog Cheddar and she should have believed that God can do anything with her faith.

My thoughts
I was pleased with the book because it was always “what is going to happen next" and "what is she going to do after?"One part I did not like about the book was when the Ending was so common and as usual than I thought. I was expecting more of sad ending or even a unique ending. I recommend this book to anyone who likes modern books.

It only looks easy

title: It only looks easy
Author: Pamela Curtis Swallow
Publisher: Scholastic
Place and year of publication: New York, 2003
Number of pages: 167 pages
Where I found the book: Christian Heritage School’s library

Story review:
The title of this book shows that life can’t always be easy and it might not look complicated as it is. Kat Randall lives with her beloved dog, Cheddar, her sister Hannah, and her parents. Kat is going into 7th grade and she’s feeling that this is going to be her best year. Kat comes before the school day and she finds out that Cheddar gets into a car accident. Cheddar goes to the veteran hospital before Kat’s first day of school that she’s been very excited for. She tries not to worry for her school day, but she gets impatient and “borrows” a bike to go to the veteran hospital. When she’s done, she finds out that the bike got stolen. Kat tells her parents about it and they tell her, to tell the bike owner (which is Melody Whiezersky), what had exactly happened to the bike.

Mrs. Lawrence is the one who gets Cheddar into a car accident and Mr. Lawrence invites Kat to go fishing together. While they’re fishing, Mr. Lawrence tells about his wife, about the Alzheimer’s disease that she has which makes you so confused that you can’t be left alone in the house and can’t remember things very well.

When Kat gets home, she finds out that Cheddar gets to come home soon. She gets excited but she remembers that she still got the bike problem. Kat’s school year is not going great as she expected and she tries to solve the problem as fast as she can, but doesn’t go smooth as she expects. Kat calls her two best friends; Abby and Matthew to see if they want help Kat to look for the bike. They look all over the place, but still can’t find it.

When she gets back, she gets a call from Mr. Lawrence and he asks if he can take care of Mrs. Lawrence. Kat says she will, because she still needs to earn more money for the bike. Kat helps Mrs. Lawrence with the gardening and when they are done, Kat gets some drinks and when she goes outside, she can’t find Mrs. Lawrence. Kat looks everywhere in the garden and the other side of the house and she’s not there, so Kat calls 911 and tell them what had happened. After she hangs up, she finds Mrs. Lawrence, coming out of the Bathroom. A moment later, a police car screeches at Mrs. Lawrence’s house and Kat tells that they lost a track of each other for a little bit.

About a half an hour later, Mr. Lawrence arrives and when Kat is about to leave, she sees a police officer, stretching something in the water and it was a bike. Kat tells the officer about the missing bike. He kept reaching the bikes out of the river and the fourth bike that he found was Melody’s bike. Even though the bike was missing some pieces; at least she found the bike. When Kat goes to the school the next day, she gets called in the principle office and she finds out that, her classmate, Dennis Boyle and his brother was the bike crime. They found the missing pieces in their shed. Dennis and his brother apologize to Kat and she is so happy that the bike crime is over. Kat realizes that everything is over now, and everything is now back to normal again.

Christian perspective:
This book doesn’t specifically talk about Christianity, but there are some actions and believes that Christians also believe and act in. The family kept praying when their dog got into a car accident. They also prayed when the bike got stolen. The main characters shows some Christianity perspective, when her classmate asked for help, she helped her classmate even though she didn’t wanted to and had lots of other things that she had to deal with.

My thoughts:
In my perspective, I think this is a great book, especially to those who like dogs. I enjoyed the book, because this book taught me some lessons about being patient and looking at the positive perspective. I like how this book makes you curious and makes you wonder about the next chapter. I like how this book isn’t just focused on one main idea, but focused on school, friendships, family, and lots of other things that are happening around you. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to talk about their friendships, communities, school and who likes animals.

Escape Under The Forever Sky -by Olivia

Title: Escape Under the Forever Sky
Author: Eve Yohalem
Publisher: Scholastic
Place and year of publication: December 2009
Number of pages: 215
Where you found the book: School library

Story Review

13 year old Lucy Hoffman has to move to Africa with her mom because her mom accepted a job as an American Ambassador, while her father stays in Indonesia with the World Bank. Her mom is very protective and won’t let her go anywhere accept for school. Her best friends are Teddy, Tana, and Iskinder who works in the residence.
Her mother always makes her come to boring dinners for her work, but one day Lucy and Tana decide to sneak out to a café called Mmmm My Flavour. While they are there, Dawit her driver, comes to the café and tells them that he is supposed to take them home. They’re busted! Dawit drops Tana off and is going to take Lucy home, but all of the sudden Lucy notices that they’re not going the right way but Dawit doesn’t listen, she gets frantic and yells at him to pull over. He swirves over and a man gets in the car and knocks her out.
The next thing she knows, she’s in a dark room and she bruised and hungry. After a few days of being there, eating nothing but ingera and water to drink, she finds out who kidnapped her. Marcos is the mean leader and Helena and Dawit are just in it for the money. Lucy realizes that she will die if she doesn’t make a run for it, so she gets out through a window and runs as fast as she can until she get to the jungle in the distance. She hides in a tree until her abductors are gone, then she goes off to find a river. She decides to follow the river and hopefully it will lead to a village. On her way she has to hide from her abductors, find food, and watch out for animals. Will she find her way home? Will she die by animals? Or will Marcos, Helena, and Dawit find her?

Christian Perspective
This book wasn’t written in a Christian perspective but Lucy (the main character) had heard about God before and sometimes did a little prayer of thanks or when she was in trouble. Since this book wasn’t written in a Christian perspective, Lucy could have dealt her problems with her mother by trying to understand why her mother was so over protective. She could have not run off to the café or markets and obeyed her mother.

Your Thoughts
I really liked this book because it was an adventure book so it was really interesting and there was never a dull moment. Another reason I liked this book was because it was inspired by a true story of a 12 year old girl in Ethiopia who was kidnapped for a week until she decided to escape. She ran into the jungle where she met three lions they chased off her abductors and surrounded her for several hours until the police arrived. I would recommend this book to people who like adventures and suspense.

Book Review: Fablehaven

Title: Rise of the Evening star (Fablehaven)

Author: Brandon Mull

Publisher and place & year of publication: Aladdin April 2007 New York

Number of pages: 368

Where I found the book: From a friend

Story review:

This is a fantasy-adventure genre book. It is about a boy and a girl named Seth and Kendra. Kendra is 12 and Seth is 10. Seth is very courageous and outgoing but sometimes a bit headstrong. Kendra is very timid and not outgoing at all. The reason this book is called Fablehaven is because that is the name of the magical preserve that their grandpa lives on. They go to their grandparents because their mom and dad are going on a vacation.

They don’t know their grandparents very well because they’ve never been to their house before. So when they get there they are amazed at how big there grandparent’s yard is and that there are so many bugs like butterflies around. When they see their grandpa he tells them that they aren’t allowed in the yard because there are ticks and stuff like that in the forest but he says it very suspiciously.

Eventually they find out that the butterflies are fairies and that the yard is full of magical creatures. On Midsummer’s eve, the most dangerous day on the preserve Seth opens a window and lets evil magical creatures inside the house. When they wake up they find the house in ruins, and they go on an adventure to fix everything.

Christian Perspective:

This book is not written from a Christian perspective. At times it is quite intense and dark. There are lots of times when Kendra, Seth, or there grandpa could’ve prayed for help from God. When they first find out that the butterflies are fairies, they ask their grandpa if the fairies are good or evil and he says “they are not good or evil. The brownies fix things because it is what they do not to be kind.”

Personal thoughts:

This is a great book, but like I said in Christian perspective, at times it can get a little dark. It has all the elements of a great book though. Adventure, emotion, cliffhangers, plot twists, etc. I would recommend this to anyone who likes amazing books.