Tuesday, March 31, 2015

House of Robots by James Patterson


House of Robots is about a kid named Sammy who lives in a house full of robots.  One day, his mom makes him take the most-annoying-robot-in-the-world, E, to school with him.  The robot embarrasses himself and Sammy.  Then, E starts a food fight and they get sent to the principal's office.  E is taken home for some minor repairs.  Later, E gets captured!  Sammy and the other robots have to set out to find E and bring him home.

I thought this book was really funny because E was really annoying, but then he and Sammy become friends later in the book.  I also really like all the illustrations and comics because they help me see what the story is trying to tell me.  My favorite robot was Mr. Moppenshine the butler!

Sunday, March 29, 2015

The Magic Finger by Roald Dahl


The Magic Finger is about a girl who lives next door to the Gregg family.  The girl is friends with the kids of the Gregg family.  But what she hates about the Greggs is that they love hunting, just for the fun of it.  One day, they come back with a perfect young baby deer and that makes her very upset.  She puts the power of the magic finger upon the whole family.  The Greggs wake up the next day and go hunting again.  They kill 16 birds but 4 other birds follow them home.  When they wake up in the morning, they are small and have wings!  There also ducks the size of humans who take over their house.  And that is only the start of their problems!

This was a pretty cool book because the people's arms turned into wings and the ducks' wings turned into arms.  I really thought the Greggs were going to be shot by hunters.  I think the lesson of this book is to be kind to animals.

Friday, March 27, 2015

The Chocolate Touch by Patrick Skene Catling


The Chocolate Touch is about a boy named John Midas.  John spends all of his allowance on chocolate.  He loves chocolate more than anything else in the world.  One day, when he is walking to his friend's house, he finds a special coin.  He decides to take a different turn to his friend's house. He then finds a candy store and takes a look around.  He buys a big box of chocolate and sneaks it into his room.  That night, he opens the box and finds out that there is only one piece of chocolate in it.  He eats the chocolate anyways.  The next day, his toothpaste and breakfast taste like chocolate!  He tells his dad and his dad discovers John has the chocolate touch.  Everything he puts to his lips will turn to chocolate.  How could this go wrong?

I thought this book was kind of funny because John ate his gloves and the toothpaste because they were chocolate.  At first, I thought the parents were playing a kind of trick on him, but at the end, I figured out that they weren't.  I also like how that when he eats all that chocolate, he actually learns a lesson not to be so greedy.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

The Ghastly McNastys: The Lost Treasure of Little Snoring by Lyn Gardner



The Ghastly McNastys: The Lost Treasure of Little Snoring is a preview copy from NetGalley.

This book is about two pirates who are brothers and all they care about is treasure.  They hear about the lost treasure of Little Snoring, so they travel there to steal the treasure.  But Tat and Hetty hear about the treasure too.  The two friends aren't going to let the pirates have it, so they hide it.  The pirates try again and again to get the treasure, but they can't seem to fool the kids.  Who will eventually get the treasure?

I thought this was a hilarious book because the pirates would slap the bird for making comments and it would land on other pages in the book.  I also thought this book was cool because Tat and Hetty were smarter together than the two pirates, and how the pirates were kicked out of pirate school.  This would be a good book for kids who like funny stories.

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Vacation!


We are going on vacation until next Tuesday!

We are going to Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  We are going snowshoeing and cross-country skiing at Grand Teton National Park, and to visit an elk refuge.

I will have more reviews when I get home.

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Frank Einstein and the Electro-Finger by Jon Scieszka


Frank Einstein and the Electro-Finger is a preview copy from NetGalley.  It is book #2 in the Frank Einstein series.

This book is about Frank and his friends that are trying to bring wireless electricity to the world.  Frank has made an invention that can take electricity from the earth, absorb into a glove, and power something. T. Edison is another kid who wanted to stop Frank and make money off the power companies by destroying all of them but one.  He then purchased the last energy source in the town, so everyone would have to buy power from him.  Frank is on a mission to stop T. Edison, with the help of his friend Watson and his robots, Klink and Klank.

I think this book was a great sequel to the first book, Frank Einstein and the Antimatter Motor.  I really like how the story involves really cool robots.  I think this book is really funny because every chapter has jokes in it from Klank.  I also like that Klink's GPS system goes off every time Klank makes jokes.  I can't wait to read the third one!

Friday, March 13, 2015

Mom Made Us Write This In The Summer by Ali Maier


My mom received a copy of Mom Made Us Write This in the Summer for review on her blog.  I read it for her and this is my review.

This book is about two kids named Max and Maggie who are twins.  Because their mom was tired of them fighting, she made them write a journal together.  They have to write their journal about good and bad topics that they do in the summer, but each person gets to comment on the other person's entries.  They learn more about each other and that the other one is not so bad.  They also learn that, if they fight, they have to do work in the summer!

I thought that this was a funny book when you got to read both of their sides. I liked that they both had to write about the same topics and that each entry tells you more and more about them.  I also really liked the comments on both of their entries that the other one wrote and how they picked topics just to annoy the other person.  At the beginning, I think they really didn't want to write it, but at the end, it seemed like they were sad that it had to stop.

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Frank Einstein and the Antimatter Motor by Jon Scieszka


Frank Einstein and the Antimatter Motor was a Christmas gift from my mom and dad.

Frank Einstein is a kid genius and he is trying to build a robot that can teach himself.  He tries to shock it to life in a lightning storm but it doesn't work.  All of it breaks except for the brain.  Later that night, one of the rocks sparks and lands in the brain. The brain comes to life!  The brain sends a wireless signal to the hands to make a new body.  Once the robot is done, he helps make a bigger robot out of spare parts.  Frank and his friend Watson find the robots and the robots tell them their names are Klink and Klank.  With some help from the robots, Frank and Watson create an antimatter motor and create a flying bike.  They are sure they can win the science fair.  But, the morning of the science fair, they find out that Klink and Klank are gone!  They have to find out who took Klink and Klank and how to save them.

I thought this was a cool robotics book because of how the robot made himself except for the brain.  I think Klank is really funny and Klink is really serious, so they have really funny scenes together.  Kids who like stories with robots and technology might really like this book.  It's really cool how at the end of the book, they try to tell you how to make something and Klank interrupts with a joke.

Monday, March 9, 2015

The Terrible Two by Mac Barnett & Jory John


This is a new novel that just came out in January.  My mom bought it for me for Valentine's Day.

The Terrible Two is about two boys named Miles and Niles.  Miles is a new kid who moved to Yawnee Valley.  He used to be a happy person, but now he is mad that he had to move and say good-bye to his friends and his apartment near the ocean.  Niles is a school helper, which means he helps out around the school and shows new kids around.  Miles really doesn't like Niles because he keeps asking the same question over and over.  On his first day, Miles learns that he can't be the prankster at his new school and he is good.  Miles wants to earn the spot of the best prankster, so he tries to prank the whole school.  Then he finds out something special about Niles.

I thought this book was a really funny book and I like how they play the different pranks.  I like how one of the characters is the perfect school helper and the other one is the prankster.  I also like how Miles and Niles were enemies at first and then turned into friends.

Saturday, March 7, 2015

Benji Franklin: Kid Zillionaire by Raymond Bean


Benji Franklin: Kid Zillionaire is a kid named Benjamin, but everyone calls him Benji.  He makes an app called "Excuse Yourself" for his tech class.  He didn't think his app would go farther than his classroom, but it went all the way around the world.  Since it went so far, he made a lot of money and, since people think he's really smart, they ask him to help him with their problems.  In the first story, he has to help capture dinosaurs.  In the second story, he has to help stop a meteorite from wiping out the earth.

I thought this book was a pretty cool book because Benji is just a regular kid, but when he invents the app, he makes a lot of money.  I like how this book has two different stories in it and how it gives Benji two different adventures.  I also like how the author says that he writes stories for kids who claim they don't like to read, but I like to read and I really liked the book.

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Lots of Bots by CJ Richards


Lots of Bots is a preview copy from NetGalley!  It is book #2 in the Robots Rule series.

This book is about a kid named George, his droid named Jackbot, and his friend, Anne.  George gets a job at Tinker Tech and, on his first day of apprenticeship, he gets in trouble and is given a job where he can't do any harm.  He gets sent to the Janitor Bot!  He wants to prove himself worthy so he can go back to designing bots, but he has to wait until after the MOD launch.  The MODs turn out to be part of an evil scientist plan to use them as mind control.  George, Anne, and Jackbot set off on their adventure to save everybody from the MOD launch and bring the villain justice!

I really liked this book because of all the cool robots that turned good and bad and good again.  I think it's a pretty good length book for me (I'm 9 years old).  I also like how it is a futuristic story because there are robot cars and robot maids too.  I'd really like to read the first one in the series now.

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Kid Presidents by David Stabler


This is a NetGalley review for a new book about the Presidents when they were kids.

This book had at least one fact about each of the Presidents but sometimes more.  Some of my favorite facts were that:
  • Abraham Lincoln lived for three weeks with just his sister and no adults in a log cabin
  • Teddy Roosevelt was a lifeguard
  • Barack Obama was friends with an ape named Tata
I thought this book was awesome because it told me stuff I never knew about the Presidents.  It's really cool because it told me about the lives of the Presidents when they were kids.  Some of the Presidents even did naughty things when they were little, Lyndon Johnson was the class clown.  They were regular kids and this book shows that any kid can become the President.  I also think kids who wanted to write about the Presidents would really like this book.