Saturday, September 20, 2014

The Kitchen Knight (Margaret Hodges)


Brennan says:

The Kitchen Knight is about a boy who comes into a kingdom and asks the king for three requests. The first is to have infinite food and drinks for one year. The king says yes.The king lets the boy work in the kitchen.

At the end of the year a girl asks the king for help. Her sister has been taken by the Red Knight, the best warrior in the world. The king says yes. The kitchen boy asks for his other two requests. they are to come on the quest to save the sister and to become a knight!

I think this is a nice quick book. I like it because it is a very well written book. I like how the boy goes from a kitchen boy to a knight. I hope you enjoy this book to :). 

http://www.betterworldbooks.com/the-kitchen-knight-a-tale-of-king-arthur-id-9780823407873.aspx
Click cover to purchase from Better World Books

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy - J.R.R. Tolkien (Rich's review)

The Lord Of The Rings was written by J.J.R Tolkien and the books were released July 29 1954, November 11 1954, and Oct 20th 1955. He died at age 81, 18 years after the last book of The Lord Of The Rings was released.

     The relationship between the elves and the dwarfs isn't good. But on the adventure with Frodo and his companions, he also brings along a dwarf named Gimli, and an elf named Legolas, which become great friends along the way. They become great friends along the way because they have to work together to bring to ring to Mount Doom to destroy it, and they have to come together and help the rest of Frodo's companions. They also lose friends along the way, which sets them even closer together. What I think the author is trying to tell through this, is that you don't always have to follow the rest of the group, you can spread out and try new things, just like Gimli and Legolas became friends, their groups would not have agreed with the relationship.

     Boromir struggled with the temptation of the Ring the most, and he had a lot of reason to. His father wanted the ring to use it as a weapon against the enemy, which is why Boromir was sent to go on the voyage to Mount Doom. He also felt Aragorn shouldn't have the ring, mainly because Aragorn was the real king to Gondor, and Boromir's dad was only a caretaker. He felt that if Aragorn got the Ring, he would take back his realm and become very powerful with the ring. He also thought that the Hobbits shouldn't have it, since they were the least experienced with weapons and traveling, and the outside world. The result of all of this was him being tempted by the ring, causing him to try to steal it from Frodo. While he was trying to get the ring from Frodo, orcs attacked and killed him, but in his last moments, he fought to keep two of the hobbits safe, Merry and Pippen.

     In the end, the friendship between Legolas and Gimli shows that you can find friends anywhere, and to not let others dictate what friends you have and what you do in your life. There are many just like Boromir that let their greed take over their lives, and I think this is a warning to not get greedy. I thought this was a very good book, but in some places the got into to much detail.

http://www.betterworldbooks.com/the-lord-of-the-rings-id-9780544003415.aspx
Click cover to purchase from Better World Books

Bible Heroes and Bad Guys (Osbourne, Wooding, Strauss)

Brennan says: 

This book is about different stories with people that are good people of God and bad people who did not like God. In my opinion it could be more interesting and good but hey that's just my opinion, you could love it. Some of the people that are in the book are: God, Jesus, Balaam, Elisha, Elijah, Paul/Saul, and Goliath. If you read this book I hope you like it more.

The story that I like the most is Paul/Saul's story where he's bad at first and then he can't stop talking about Jesus. The reason why this book is kind of mediocre to me is because it's sort of the same story again and again just told differently in the sense that people of God win and bad people lose. That is why I like Paul/Saul's story- it's different.

http://www.betterworldbooks.com/bible-heroes-bad-guys-id-9780310703228.aspx
Click cover to purchase at Better World Books

The Declaration of Independence (Thomas Jefferson)

Rich says:


I think this was a good idea for them, even though they were kind of forced to do it, It ended up well. What my dad and I think is funny about this is that Thomas Jefferson seems to get more mad the more he writes. This was well written, but a little confusing when you don't know all the words he's saying.
They knew when they sent this to England that it would start a war, and cost many people their lives. Can you imagine the stress Thomas Jefferson was under when he was writing this? They had good excuses for their independence, and this is just me, but I also think the King was stupid. The reason I believe he was stupid is that he sent armies into the colonies, cut off their trade, he broke his own laws, and didn't let them have a fair trials, and taxed them relentlessly, and thought that they wouldn't rebel. If he hadn't gone overboard with "protecting them" and all of the things above, he would have continued to receive taxes from them, and trade goods.

Brennan says: 

The Declaration Of Independence is a bunch of reasons to break up with Britian and to show how bad the king was being.
I think it was right to make The Declaration Of Independence because the king was having people fight each other and had soldiers go into peoples houses and live there for how ever long they wanted. 
I like how the writer got madder and madder as he wrote and insults the king at the end.
Tell me what you liked about it if you want :).
http://www.betterworldbooks.com/the-constitution-of-the-united-states-with-index-and-the-declaration-of-independence-id-9780880801447.aspx
Click cover to purchase at Better World Books

Winne the Pooh - The Complete Collection (A.A. Milne)

Rich says: 

 Book 1:
This book is simple, but unique in its own way. This story is based on 7 stuffed animals and 1 little boy, Christopher Robbin. The boy has many adventures with these 7 animals in the book, going from Pooh trying to outsmart bees, to finding Eeyore's tail. There's Pooh, Piglet, Rabbit, Eeyore, Owl, Kanga, And Roo. Pooh is a silly bear, and not much for brains, he makes up for it with his appetite. Piglet, (my favorite character!!!) is smart, but is not very brave. Rabbit, he is the grumpy-ish one, but is the smartest of all of them, and pretty brave. Eeyore is sad, and pity's himself a lot, and doesn't really care if he goes on a adventure or not. Owl thinks he is wise, smart, and very resourceful...when he really isn't all that. Kanga is the mother of Roo, and is motherly and easygoing. Roo, (my other favorite character!!!), is oblivious and loves a little adventure. Over all, the first "Winnie-The-Pooh" book is a very cute book. Even though it is a kids book, its still very enjoyable for older kids/adults. I would suggest this book to almost anyone,as it is a great read!

Book 2: 
These two books are amazingly funny, and simple. They now have 8 Characters, the new character being "Tigger", my favorite character. He's bouncy, and doesn't know ANYTHING about himself, besides that he likes Roo's vitamins. This book has the boy, Christopher Robin growing up, and getting ready to be on his own, and these little stuffed animals realizing he's getting too old to play with them anymore. This book, had me, my Dad, and Mom ALL crying at the end. And once we were done reading, Brennan says, "What's so sad?" and we all say he'll understand when he's older. But this book has a lot of really good moments with Pooh and Christopher Robin, and Pooh's game called "Pooh Sticks", and Tigger bragging, and then getting stuck in a tree. They make references to the last book, reminding the readers of what has happened in the past, (Which is a big thing for me, I LOVE that kind of stuff). These books are a great read for anyone, I'm getting to the teen age's and these are awesome books for me. One of my friends told me once I said we were reading these, "But isn't it a kids book?" yeah, it is a kids book, but its great all the same. Great read, and can't wait until we start reading another series! 

Brennan says: 

This book is very good. I like it because the characters work well in a story together and because it's funny.  My favorite character is Eeyore.  My favorite character is Eeyore because Eeyore know what's going on but doesn't at the same time and comes in at the perfect timings and ways.

 This book is about different animals and a human living in a forest together.

I hope you enjoy this book to :).

http://www.betterworldbooks.com/winnie-the-pooh-the-complete-collection-of-stories-and-poems-id-9780416199611.aspx
Click cover to purchase at Better World Books


The Adventures of Tom Sawyer -Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)

Rich says: 

Tom Sawyer... is insane.  He becomes a pirate, pretends to be dead, then becomes a robber at the age of around 12. Tom Sawyer has plans for his thousands of dollars he is going to get from robbers, in a haunted house. He believes in God, which makes him a pirate that doesn't steal (because stealing is a sin). He loves Robin Hood, hates school, loves to be in the spot light, and is scared of Injun Joe. He goes to grave yards at midnight, stays over night in a haunted house, and gets lost in caves. He loves to trick his other friends and class mates. This is a good book, not the best in my opinion. It's a very exciting book, but I wouldn't read it again, it's one of those books that you need to read because everyone references the book. Overall, a exciting book but more of a one-time read for me.

Brennan says:

Tom sawyer is about a young boy that is smart and does not like getting in trouble but he likes to make trouble so sometimes does stuff he is not suppose to and his to friends Huck for short and Joe Harper.  I really like this book. I like it because it is about the bad guys sort of and because it is weird but not too weird. I like that the charterers get put into uncommon yet bad situations. I like Tom and Huck but I don't want to be like them. I hope you like this book too :)


The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Click book cover to purchase