The Cay by Theodore Taylor
Originally published in 1969
Republished in 2003 by Laurel Leaf Publishers.
144 pages
Rating 5 out of 5 stars
I would like to say thank you to the wonderful teacher who read this book with our class. This is dedicated you.
This book is one of my favorite books of all time. When my teacher read it to us it felt like I was inside the book, it was amazing. There is this boy named Phillp and he lives in Willemstad during World War 2. The Germans took over the town of Curacao. Phillp's mother took Phillp with her on a ship. During the time on the ship they got torpedoed. Phillip and his mother got separated.
All of a sudden Phillp was on a raft with a man named Timothy. Phillp didn't like Timothy at first. Timothy has an accent that many people can not understand. While on the raft, Phillp just stared at the sun all day and eventually he lost his eyesight. He could not see anything. Then, Timothy spotted an island. They went on the island and strange things happen. Some parts are sad, happy, and surprising. Can Phillip find his mother and get home?
I recommend this book to people who like books that are about adventure and friendship. I loved this book and you will too.
Isn't this an "outrageous" review?
RULES by Cynthia Lord
Published April 1, 2006 by Scholastic Press
208 pages
Rating 5 out of 5 stars
I read a purchased copy (signed by Cynthia Lord)
This book is a realistic fiction book and it is really exciting. It is about a girl that has a little brother that has autism. The sister's name is Catherine. The brother's name is David. Catherine makes up rules for David since he has some trouble with his behavior. One rule is "Don't put toys in the fish tank". David sometimes doesn't follow the rules that Catherine makes for him.
David goes to a speech therapist every week. Catherine goes with him sometimes and there is a boy in the waiting room every week that Catherine starts to hangs out with. His name is Jason and he is in a wheelchair. He uses a speech book because he can't speak. As Catherine gets to know him better, she discovers that he wants more word-pictures in his speech book. Catherine is an artist and offers to make more picture words for Jason. They develop a really good friendship.
At that same time, a new family moves in next door to Catherine. There is a girl Catherine's age that Catherine wants to meet. When Catherine and Kristi meet, they become friends. But Kristi is a little more "popular" than Catherine and doesn't always understand that people are different. As the book goes on, Catherine needs to make some hard decisions.
In this book there is a mix of family, friendship, and love.
I am glad that Cynthia Lord wrote a book about a girl with a little brother with autism. RULES reminds me of me and my little brother. I don't make rules for him but he is seven years old and has autism. I sometimes get annoyed with him, but he is the best thing that has ever happen to me and I love him to pieces.
I would recommend RULES for kids in grades 4 through middle school.
Cynthia Lord describes her book Rules in this trailer.
Always October is by Bruce Coville
Published August 28, 2012 by Harper Collins
384 pages
My rating: 5 out of 5 stars
I read this book because it is on our Maine Student Book Award list this year. This book has many genres. It is a little bit fantasy and realistic fiction. It is about this boy named Jack who found a baby on his doorstep. His mom said to keep the baby until the owner comes to get him. That night when the moon comes up, the baby turns into a monster. It is a baby during the day and a monster by night. Jack was freaked out at first, but realized that the baby was friendly.
One night, two monsters came in and tried to capture the baby. One of them was bad, the other one was good. So Jack hopped on the good monster and went into the monster world called Always October. Lily is Jack's friend and she joined them inside Always October. Inside, there was a lot of weird stuff. There are spiders trying to eat people, chases, tunnels, monsters and more. At the end the bad monsters try to kill the baby monster. Jack and Lily's goal is to keep the baby safe in order to keep the monster world and the human world from being torn apart. I don't want to tell the rest, you would have to find that out yourself.
Go get it right now you won't regret it.
