The Stone of Fire by Kaniyah

The Stone of Fire is about Geronimo Stilton's ancient ancestor(if you don't know who Geronimo is, look at Rumble in the Jungle by Kaniyah) Geronimo Stiltonoot. He goes on an unexpected adventure to retrieve the stolen Stone of Fire, the most valuable and simple artifact in the mouseam. Mouseam is not a typo. Their mice for cryin out loud! Anyway, Geronimo and his friend Hercule, go to  Bugville where the saber-toothed tigers lived. Gulp! This book is by Geronimo Stilton. I recommend to people who like comedy, mice and adventure.

Whatever After Fairest of All by Kaniyah

Whatever after is about a girl named Abby and her little brother Jonah. They get sucked up in their basement mirror, and land in a fairy tale! They saved Snow White by not letting her eat the poisoned apple. But. If Snow White doesn't die, she wont meet her prince. Oops. Abby and Jonah then tries to match her up and get home in a limited amount of time. This book is by Sarah Mlynowski. I recommend this book to people who like fairy tales, drama, comedy, and adventure.

half magic

          Half magic is a magical story by Edward Eager. In it, 4 siblings find a half-magic talisman. Before they realize it's true nature, their mother is whisked halfway home in the middle of a boring conversation and the children stuck on a desert island. When the children finally harness the power of the charm, they each get one day with it, and a brilliant adventure ensues,ending up with the children getting a loving stepfather and everyone becoming thoroughly happy. I would recommend this book to anyone seeking a good, old-fashioned adventure, or anyone who loves magical adventures of any kind.

Crossed-- Ally Condie

Crossed is the second book in the Matched trilogy by Ally Condie. The main characters Cassia and Ky find each other and set off to find the rising against society which supposedly is perfect except that people have no choice. Its a great book but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who hasn't read Matched Because it really caries off of the first book. Once you have read both Matched and Crossed then there is the last book Reached which is supposedly very good but I havent tried it yet so I'm not sure.

Molly Moon and the Morphing Mystery

I have been reading a book called Molly Moon and the Morphing Mystery. Molly is a hypnotist, she can also freeze time, read minds, and travel through time. In this adventure she tries to learn how to morph into humans and animals. She has to stop a group who is set on finding the Logan stones, which if used correctly control the weather. This group is trying to wipe almost the whole population on earth leaving only a million people. To stop them Molly must turn into an ant, a rat, and a monkey. It's a great read, full of action and humor. Your eyes will be glued to the page as you read about the epic adventure of Molly Moon and her dog Petula.

The blue pug on the cover is Petula

Trouble Maker by Kaniyah

This book is about a boy named Clay who gets in trouble a lot. His brother comes home from jail and fixes up Clay... permanently! And to make things worse, someone is making messes and people suspect Clay did it. Who would have done this? Will Clay ever stay the same? This book is by Andrew Clements. I recommend this book to people who wants pranks to think up of or people who needs to learn to stop OD'ing.  

Wonderstruck

     In this amazing book, a boy named Ben try's to find his father and a girl runs away to NY. The girl's story is narrated in pictures and Ben's in words. Ben's story starts in Gunflint lake, Minnesota 1977. He is deaf in one ear. But then is struck by lightning and becomes deaf. He go's to a hospitable. But then runs away to NY to find his father. Will he find his father? (I read it, but I do not want to be a spoiler).

    The girl's story starts in Hoboken, NY 1927. She runs away to NY. She go's to her mother a famous movie star. But her mother gets mad because she ran away and she has interrupted her. Then she go's to the Natural History Museum. What will happen next?

    I recommend this book it is full of mysteries, but is not only mystery book. It has drama, almost deaths and more. If you liked The Invention of Hego Crabret, you will like this book.

Rumble In The Jungle By Kaniyah

Geronimo Stilton has an unexpected adventure to Brazil. He is with two radical adventurist Wild Willie and his cousin Maya. Soon he finds himself lost. And he hasn't learned any Portuguese, so no one can understand him and he cant understand anyone. To make it worse he lost his wallet! He goes on a bunch of flights to find Willie and Maya. He tries weird food, worked on a farm, and soon wounds up all alone in the middle of the forest. A girl meets him and takes him to her village. The village is in trouble. The precious Heart of Light was stolen from Jack Darkmouse. A mouse that cuts down trees just to make concrete and busy streets. The animals of the jungle help him and Jack Darkmouse was just about to hammer the crystal to make souvenir key chains! Geronimo covered the crystal before anyone could hammer anything. Until Maya and Willie came and the villagers got the crystal back. When they got home, in New Mouse City, his family and friends are there, happy, and surprised (but mostly surprised) he is alive. He soon found out his friends stole his wallet and left him alone on purpose. The main thing they wanted him to do was get new photos for his Mousebook page. Everyone saw his photos and called him to tell him how awesome and adventurous Geronimo is! He was so popular that in fact, a movie director in Brazil, asked him to star in his movie! He got to go back to Brazil and meet his new friends. What a great week Geronimo had! I recommend this book to people who like comedy and pictures in chapter books.

Some Really Great Reads.

Hi all,
If you are looking for some good summer reads, try these:
(They are organized by genre.)

Sci Fi:
Feed, by, M.T. Anderson
Summary:
This book is about the future. People have a kind of television stuck in their heads, the device, its called a feed sort of knows who they are, and what they want. The main character falls in love with someone who has a faulty feed, and their heart and brain is failing because the feed is too.
*Note* This book contains a lot of curses.

Mystery:
Nancy Drew, by, Caroline Keene
Summary:
These books are a series that has around 60 books in it. It is about a young female sleuth who goes on many adventures with her friends, and often saves the day.

Fantasy:
First Light, by, Rebecca Stead
Summary:
This book is about two worlds. One below Greenland, and one above, on the ice. Two children, one from each world meet, and struggle to save a colony of a people long forgotten beneath the ice, before its too late.

Historical Fiction:
Hawksmaid, by, Kathryn Lasky
Summary:
This is a story about Maid Marian and Robin Hood before they were Maid Marian and Robin Hood. Maid Marian, (Matty) is attached to hawks and she and Robin Hood (Fynn) with a band of merry men, try to set treacherous times to right by aiding the poor to rise against Prince John, and return the rightful King Richard to his throne.


Realistic Fiction:
Cousins, by, Virginia Hamilton
This is a story about Cammy, a girl whose beloved Gram Tut is dying, and she figures out her self centered cousins secret, she struggles on through thick and thin, and then a tragic thing occurs and she must figure out how to cope with it.

Boo!

Lauren, "the Hunger Games" (example post)

This week I am reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. The story is about a girl named Katniss who is chosen to represent her district in an annual competition. She must fight to the death with 23 other kids. I like the character development in the book, especially when Katniss and Gale (the boy chosen from her district) are training for the Games. We learn a lot about what's really going on inside Katniss' head, and how she needs to play the game in order to win. I would recommend this book to friends who enjoy fantasy, action, or books with strong characters.

A word about integrity.

Two posts in a row from Lauren?!? Wonderful.

I wanted to mention upfront that I know that all of you will use this blog in a way that will bring our community of readers closer together. You will recommend books and get recommendations from friends, and we will have a great summer on this blog.

However, I want to make a few things very clear:

1) You will write and edit only YOUR OWN posts. We can see the editing history of each post, and we can see if friends make changes to other people's posts. This threatens the safety of this community's blog, and will not happen.

2) You will comment in a positive way that honors yourself and others. Your comments can, and should, agree, disagree, question, and build upon each other's posts. They should be appropriate for school, and focused on the book. If you have questions about whether or not a comment is appropriate,  feel free to email me (ldonnelly@communityroots.org) and I can help guide you towards a strong and positive comment.

Looking forward to reading your posts and comments,

Lauren

First post

Hello friends,

Welcome to the 2013 summer reading blog! This will be a place where you can recommend books to friends, as well as get a book recommendation from a friend if you get stuck without something to read.

You were sent an email with an invitation to join the blog. Click on the link in the email to join and you will be able to make new posts, edit old posts, and add comments.

Once you have joined the blog, when you want to start a new post, simply click the orange "new post" button at the top of the blog. A document will pop up, and you can begin typing.

Here are your directions for logging in:
1) Sign in to your Community Roots gmail address
2) Click on "More" in the black bar at the top of the page and click on "Blogger"
3) Click the orange pen to start a new post
4) Write your name and the title of the book in the "Post" subject line (eg: Lauren, the Hunger Games)
5) Write a short summary of the book and answer this question: "Would you recommend the book you are reading to a friend? Why or why not?"

Remember: you will be reading about one book per week, so you shouldn't write more than one post for each book.

Here's an example:

"This week I am reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. The story is about a girl named Katniss who is chosen to represent her district in an annual competition. She must fight to the death with 23 other kids. I like the character development in the book, especially when Katniss and Gale (the boy chosen from her district) are training for the Games. We learn a lot about what's really going on inside Katniss' head, and how she needs to play the game in order to win. I would recommend this book to friends who enjoy fantasy, action, or books with strong characters."

We'll be checking in to monitor your progress.

Have a FANTASTIC summer, and we'll see you in September.

Working hard,

Lauren and Liliana