Dog and Puppy Chapter Books

I like dogs a lot so I read all of my shorter dog books recently.  I decided to combine these together in one post since they are pretty similar.  I have two dogs of my own so I am constantly looking at dogs.

Me with Buttercup, Daisy, and Prince. 
Buttercup came from the shelter.

Puppy Place by Ellen Miles
       AR book level:  4.0

• Goldie
• Snowball
• Shadow
• Rascal

Alfie All Alone by Holly Webb
         AR book level:  4.3
Harry the Homeless Puppy by Holly Webb
        AR book level: 4.0

All of these books are short and quick to read.  They have quite a few pictures.  All the books deal with a puppy in search of a home.  In the Puppy Place books, two kids foster dogs while looking for their perfect owner.  The books teach a little about each breed of dog and good dog ownership.

In the Holly Webb books, Alfie All Alone has to do with a girl who gets Alfie as a puppy when her mom is pregnant, but they decide they can't keep him so they take him to the shelter.   In the end, he gets a new home.  Harry is a puppy whose owner moves and can't keep him.  A girl volunteers at the shelter and becomes friends with Harry.  He is a hyper Jack Russel Terrier puppy so he doesn't work with the first few homes he goes to, but he does find a home.

I liked the Holly Webb series better.  They seemed more realistic.  The Puppy Place kids foster a new dog every week basically.  These books help kids realize that it is hard to take care of a pet.  Getting a pet from a shelter or volunteering at a shelter can help them get used to new people and find a good home.  When I am old enough (you have to be 13), I would like to volunteer at the shelter.  I adopted a rabbit from the shelter last summer.

Red Blazer Girls books 2 and 3

by Micheal Beil

The Vanishing Violin (AR book level: 4.4)
The Mistaken Masterpiece (AR book level: 4.7)

Since I first posted by the Red Blazer Girls book series, I have read book 2 The Vanishing Violin and book 3 The Mistaken Masterpiece.  I wanted to update you on my thoughts on the series.  This series follow four seventh grade girls who after solving the mystery in "The Ring of Rocamodour" set up the Red Blazer Girls Detective Agency.  In the Vanishing Violin, there is robbery of a violin that the girls discover was already stolen once and they help the sisters' at their school discover who is cleaning the school after hours.  The Mistaken Masterpiece has the girls helping one of the priests figure out if the painting his father inherited is real or not.  It also has Sophie dog sitting for a famous actor from a vampire movie.

I liked these two books as much as I did the first one.  These ones didn't seem as realistic as the first one.  The girls still use different subjects or techniques to figure out secret messages and codes.  There is a fourth book coming out October 2012. 


See my review of the first book, Ring of Rocamodour here:  http://laurenlovesbooks.blogspot.com/2011/12/red-blazer-girls-ring-of-rocamadour.html

Justin Case: School, Drool, and Other Daily Disasters

This was the book I got for finishing the Barnes and Noble summer reading program.  All you had to do was read 8 books and then you got to pick out a free book from the list at the store.

by Rachel Vail
AR book level: 5.2

Justin is a 3rd grader.  His name isn't really Justin Case, but he got that nickname doing a project where he kept saying "Just in case."  One of the school bullies said maybe that's how he got his name and ever since everyone has been calling him Justin Case.  The book is written in the form of Justin's journal.  There is an entry every day during the school year.  In the book, Justin talks about what happens at school, home, and with his family. 

I liked the book because it was super duper funny and the beginning of the book he is a worrier, but towards the end he gets more brave and doesn't worry as much.  It was easy to read as there were breaks at the end of each day's journal entry.  I thought that his family was funny especially his little sister who wrote a poem about dog poop that she read to the school.

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.

Return of the Homework Machine by Dan Gutman

AR Book Level:  4.7

This book is a sequel to "The Homework Machine" that I already reviewed.  In "Return of the Homework Machine", they find out that the most important piece of the homework machine (the part that let them cheat on their homework) was not destroyed.  The person who finds it can do a lot more than just cheat on their homework.  In this book, they aren't just playing around because someone dies.  The kids are telling the police what happened like in the first one.  They threw the homework machine in the grand canyon in the first book.  One of the kids from their class went looking for it and meets up with Richard Milner who was the guy bothering the five kids in the first book.  The kids try to get to the homework machine first, but they are too late.

I like it because it's interesting and the teacher gets involved.  If you read the first one and liked it, try the second book.  I am going to read another book by Dan Gutman.

Calvin Coconut: Trouble Magnet

By Graham Salisbury
AR book level:  2.8

In Calvin Coconut: Trouble Magnet, Calvin is a boy with only a mom and a babysitter is going to live with them starting in like two days.  He doesn't like it because they are giving the new babysitter Calvin's room and Calvin has to go into the old, dirty garage storage room.  Calvin finds a centipede in the storage room and thinks that if they are going to be roommates, he should at least not get out so Calvin's mom won't squash him.  Calvin brings the centipede to meet your teacher day and it gets loose and Calvin gets in trouble quite a few times.  This bully at school says that since Calvin made him spill juice on his new shirt that Calvin would have to pay (not in money!).  Calvin tries to run away from the bully and gets away but forgets to walk home his little sister Darci.  Once he's almost home, he remembers Darci and runs back to school trying not to get caught.  At school, he goes to Darci's first grade classroom and bangs on the doors and yells for her.  Read the book to find out how Calvin gets away from the bully.

I thought the book was funny, but it wasn't my favorite.  I recommend this book for someone who wants to learn about living by the ocean and different foods since Calvin lives in Hawaii.  I think that boys would like this book more.  It was an easy book and had lots of different pictures.  The picture I used for this post is one of the ones from the book.

Red Blazer Girls: Ring of Rocamadour

By Michael Beil
AR book level:  4.4

The Red Blazer Girls are a group of friends who are seventh graders.  They got their red blazers as part of their Catholic school uniform when they started seventh grade.  Sophie sees an old lady and screams.  The woman appears in a upstairs window by the church.  Sophie and her friends decide to investigate who the lady is.  The lady's father hid a 14th birthday present for his granddaughter the day before he died many years ago.  The lady sends Sophie and her friends on a treasure hunt to find what he hid to give back to her daughter Caroline.

Throughout the book, they use real subject skills to figure out the clues.  They use math, religion, literature, and other subjects to find the gift.  I liked this book because it had long and funny chapter names.  I liked that it seemed like Sophie was really telling you the story.  You'll like this book if you like mystery with a twist.  This book is kind of harder to read.  I had to ask my mom questions about the math and religion and some of the words in the book.  There are two other books in this series.  I want to read the other books soon. 

PS This book has love!

Roxie and the Hooligans by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

AR book level = 5.3

Roxie is a 9 year old girl.  Her Uncle Dangerfoot is an explorer and his partner is the famous Lord Thistlebottom.  Roxie memorized Lord Thistlebottom's book called "Lord Thistlebottom's Book of Pitfalls and How to Survive Them".  There are a bunch of bullies at her school called Helvetica's Hooligans.  Roxie falls into a dumpster with the Hooligans and it's dumped into the sea.  The girls swim to an island with two robbers on it.  Roxie remembers from the book how to survive all the things that happen on the island throughout the book.

This book was short, but was pretty good.  I liked that Roxie stands up for herself.  Whenever the Hooligans wouldn't do something, Roxie would stand up and say that she would do it by herself.  I would recommend the book.  It's really fast to read.

Grace Lin Chapter Books

Books read:
Chapter books:
The Year of the Dog (AR book level 4.2)
The Year of the Rat (AR book level 4.6)
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (AR book level 5.5)

Picture books:
The Ugly Vegetables
Dim Sum for Everyone
Kite Flying
The Red Thread
Lissy's Friends
Ling and Ting: Not Exactly the Same

Grace Lin drew a rabbit because 2011 was the year of the rabbit.

I love Grace Lin.  I have read three of her chapter books and some of her picture books.  My favorite Grace Lin book would have to be Where the Mountain Meets the Moon.  In this book, there are lots of old Chinese stories all over it.  They are real Chinese myths.  This book talks about a young Chinese girl named Minli.  Her parents are poor so she looks for the old man of the moon, an old Chinese legend.  Minli takes a journey full of miracles and stories and meets lots of different people on her way.  I have a copy at home that is signed by Grace Lin.

Other books I have read by Grace Lin are The Year of the Dog and The Year of the Rat.  These books are sort of like an autobiography.  The stories talk about two girls, Pacey and Melody.  In The Year of the Dog, Pacey finds a new friend named Melody.  They are both Chinese living in America.  They become really good friends.  They figure out their families are different in some ways, but the same in others.  In The Year of the Rat, Pacey figures out that Melody is moving.  Pacey doesn't like it because Melody is her best friend.  In the end, a miracle happens.


I liked all these books.  I was excited to meet Grace Lin at the Plum Creek Literary Festival.  She even called me on stage, but she didn't know she was one of my favorite authors.

The Homework Machine

Book read:
The Homework Machine by Dan Gutman (AR book level 4.8)

In The Homework Machine, four 4th graders share a secret.  The 4 kids are not ones you would think would go together.  One is very smart, he created the homework machine. The second one is pretty cool in school.  One is just plain old stuck up.  The last one is really dumb.  These four kids use the homework machine which does their homework in less than an hour and always gets every question right.  They get into trouble because the teacher can tell they aren't doing their own homework, especially the cool and dumb ones.  During the summer, they end up recording everything they did that school year with the homework machine and other stuff.

I liked this book because it is a great mystery book.  I liked that it showed everything in what month happened and tells which person is talking in their own thoughts.  I think it was exciting and funny and would recommend it for kids 8 - 12 years old.