Avalon: Web of Magic Book 1

 By Rachel Roberts
AR Book Level 3.9

This book is filled with magic and animals.  The first character that is introduced has a mother who is a veterinarian.  She's used to working with injured animals.  One day when she was walking some of the dogs who live at the kennel, a few of the dogs ran into Old Ravenswood Preserve.  There she finds a rock in a stream.  The next morning, she wakes up and in her pocket is the rock, but it is no longer rough, it's smooth.  She learns that the stone is magical and they find a bunch of cool creatures including a wolf made of mist and a talking ferret.  There is another girl who lives at Ravenswood Manor who found a different stone in a field.  She is friends with the wolf named Stormbringer.  They try to help the talking ferret, Ozzie find a portal back to his magical world.

I liked this book because it includes three different points of view of the three girls in the story.  If you like this book, I would try the Ivy and Bean series about two friends who you wouldn't think would go together but they do.

SOS files By Byars, Betsy

book read:   
SOS files  by Betsy Byars, Betsy Duffy, and Laurie Myers ( BL 3.8   1.0 pts. )


In this book, students are assigned to write about a time were they had a SOS (Save Our Ship!). Their teacher says that everyone got EXTRA CREDIT (YAY!), except 1. So, everyone  reads their stories again, and the teacher reads the last one that is not signed.  They figure out  who did not get extra credit.

This book is very short, although it's pretty funny. One of the students even recites a speech by ABE LINCOLN!                                                                                                                                                 

Gilda Joyce, Psychic Investigator

Book Read:
Gild Joyce, Psychic Investigator by Jennifer Allison (AR Book Level:  6.5)


Gilda Joyce is a smart, fashionable psychic investigator or so she thinks.  Really, Gilda Joyce is a psychic investigator in training with red hair and lots of freckles.  At the end of the last day of school, Gilda's teacher goes around and asks what everyone is going to do this summer.  Gilda who is planning on spying on plaid pants (the guy who works at the store) makes up a lie and says she is going to San Fransisco to write a novel.  There's only one way to make Gilda's "lie" not a lie - to actually do it.  Somehow Gilda manages to get her long lost relative to invite her to San Fransisco.  Her long lost relatives house is actually a mansion, and did I mention the mansion is haunted?  Gilda helps her cousin investigate her aunt's death that happened years ago.  And yes, in the end she manages to write a novel.

Gilda manages to get herself into a lot of trouble and she is pretty clumsy.  This book was very entertaining.  If someone reads to you and you close your eyes, you feel like you are watching a movie.  There are more books in this series and I would like to read them when I have more time.

Extra Credit by Andrew Clements

In December, I tried out for the Reading Classics team at my school.  I am on the team now.  We have to read books from a specific list and in March we compete by answering questions about the books.


Book Read:
Extra Credit (AR book level:  5.3)

I read this book for the Reading Classics team.  In the book, Abby Carson is not a very good student.  Well, she's good at it, but she doesn't get the point.  Her teacher tells her she has to repeat sixth grade.  So, she has to do an extra credit project.  She pulls a paper out of the project box and the assignment is that she has to write a letter to someone from any country she would want.  She picks Afghanistan because she loves the idea of climbing mountains, but in Illinois, where she lives, there are no mountains. 

I really liked this book because with every letter came a new surprise.    I liked learning about the similarities and differences between kids in the United States and kids in Afghanistan.