woods runner

Woods Runner

by: Gary Paulsen

      Thirteen year old Samuel lives with his parents on the edge of the woods in the British colony of Pennsylvania. He knows how to hunt and find his way through the deep forest. However, when the war tears through his town while he's in the woods hunting his parents are taken hostage by the British. From then on it's his mission to find his parents. 

       This is a good book because it has action, suspense and plenty of unexpected twists and turns keeping the reader guessing. This book also gives you a good picture of the time period so I would definitely recommend it. 

By: mountain bike   

Tracks of the Tiger by Bear Grylls

In this exciting new edition of the mission survival series Beck and his friend Peter spend their holiday vacation in Indonesia. But when they are on their way back to the hotel from an Oragutang sanctuary a volcano explodes causing their jeep to crash into the woods. Beck and Peter face flowing lava, crocodiles, and tigers as they try to stay alive. I recommend this book to people who like a lot of adventure and realistic fiction. Visit Bear Grylls' website at http://www.beargrylls.com/.


Apple

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

As I skimmed my bookshelves in late fall, a certain book caught my eye: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, by Ann Brashares. I made a greivous mistake by taking it off the shelf and deciding to read it.

The writing is awful. To sum it up, it was the sappiest, girliest, worst book ever. Hardly a chapter went by without the narrator swooning over some guy.

The four main characters, Lena, Tibby, Bridget, and Carmen, are best friends in school, but go different places over the summer: Lena to Greece, Bridget to Mexico, Carmen to South Carolina, and Tibby to the local drugstore for her first job.

They keep in touch using letters and sending the Pants, a pair of supposedly lucky blue jeans that magically fits them all.

They all have their corny romances, come back together at the end of the book, and that's it.

There is no worse reading choice than this book; the plot is nonexistent and the word choice is feeble. Do not read this book.

~Skyler Mae

The Book Thief-B.R.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusack
       
                The Book Thief is a wonderfully woven story of a girl in 1939 Nazi Germany, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. After her brother dies, Liesel Meminger gets sent to live with foster parents, Rosa and Hans Hubermann, who live outside of Munich.
                
                 The country holds its breath, and death has never been busier.  Yet the Hubermanns find the courage to harbour a Jew in their basement. Liesel finds herself stealing books from Nazi book burnings, the mayor's library, anywhere books can be found. With the help of her foster father Hans, Liesel slowly learns to read in a world where books are extremely rare.
               
                 Beautifully written, The Book Thief is a life-changing book of love, loss, tragedy, and kindness. Markus Zusack blends fiction with reality to make a truly incredible book. I would recommend this to any reader, regardless of age or genre interest.

You can find a website about the author here, and if your interested about WWII, you can go here.
Book Review written by Julio.