LES Alumni Reviews
2015-2016 Reviews: Read the reviews below for more great book recommendations from past LES students:
The students may have moved on to Black River, but in this digital age, their on-line work can still help us find a good book!
Review by Thomas
Review by Josh
Series: Percy Jackson & the Olympians
The Boundless
by Kenneth Oppel
by Rick Riordan
My favorite book series is Percy Jackson and the Olympians. It is based on Greek myths. Percy is a son of Poseidon and he is a demigod. At the beginning of the first book, The Lightning Thief, Percy doesn’t know he is a demi-god, and all kinds of strange things happen when his powers kick in and he doesn’t know what is happening or how to control it. Later, he has to go on a quest with his friends, Annabeth, the daughter of Athena, and Grover, a satyr. I rate this series 11 out of 10 stars.
Book review by Mackenzie
As Small as an Elephant
By Jennifer Richard Jacobson
This story starts in Maine at Acadia National Park at a camping site where a mother and her son Jack are staying. When Jack wakes up his mother is gone. The rental car and her tent are gone too. Then Jack is on an adventure to find his mother without anyone knowing. How will he pay for food? Where will he go? Why doesn't he ask for help? Read the book and you’ll find out.
At the start, there is a poor kid named William Everett (Will) who is waiting for his dad to come back to him from his job as a track layer on the Trans-Canadian Railroad. Will lays the last spike made of gold and encrusted with diamond. Later, Will's father-James is the engineer of the Boundless, a double decker train that is over 7 miles long, which goes from coast to coast on the new track, bringing a funeral car holding the boss's remains, and various treasures including the Gold Spike. Like every mystery, someone wants to steal it! (It's __) Will misses the train at a stop, and is stuck at the caboose. He has to make his way to his father at the front, and Will has a key that opens the funeral car. It goes VERY GOOD from then on, believe me.
Book review by Jayme
Wonder
By R.J. Palacio
“I won’t describe what I look like.Whatever you’re thinking,it’s probably worse.”
August Pullman was born with an extreme facial deformity and was not expected to survive.Now he is going to school for the first time. Can he convince his new classmates that he is a normal kid, despite appearances? I think this is a funny,sad and incredibly moving book. I rate it 10 out of 10 stars. I recommend this book to grades four and up.
Review by Haley
I recommend this book to fourth grade and up. I give this book 10 out of 10 stars. This book is realistic fiction. I like this book because it kind of leaves you at a cliffhanger.
Review by Karissa
The Lost Hero
by Rick Riordan
Have you ever woken up and not known who you are and where you are in the world?
This book is the first book in the “Heroes of Olympus” series which come after Rick Riordan’s first series called “Percy Jackson & the Olympians”. These series are about demigods who go on quests to save the world and include a lot of greek mythology and roman mythology. It is a fiction fantasy.
The main characters are Leo, Piper, and Jason. They end up going on a quest to save the world and Jason has lost his memory. He ends up in Camp Half Blood with strangers and gets picked to save the world.
I recommend this book to 5th graders and up. Fourth graders could read it, but it might be a little confusing. It confused me at first. I rate this book 10 out of 10 stars. I loved this book because it is full of adventure but it is also very peaceful in different parts.
book review by Aurora
Dragonbreath
by Ursula Vernon
PENDRAGON
The Merchant of Death
By D.J MacHale
This book is an awesome fiction fantasy wonder. It is the first book of the Pendragon series. The characters are a boy named Bobby who is 14 years old. He is stuck in a Denduron and his Uncle Press is stuck under the King of the Quigs. A Denduron is a dark weird place.Bobby is with people he doesn’t know. This sounds confusing, but in the book it makes perfect sense.
Bobby was a normal boy who was about to play in the finals in basketball at the start of the book. Right before the game starts, his Uncle Press takes him on his motorcycle to an old subway train stop. When they get there, they have to fight many people to reach a door. Uncle Press tells Bobby to say the magic words that will open the door. What does he find? You’ll figure it out when you read the book.
This book is split into two parts. One is the Denduron Journal where Bobby is talking from the Denduron. The second part is the Second Earth and Bobby is sending scrolls from the Denduron to his friend Mark and his girlfriend Courtney. The main idea is that Bobby is trying to get home.
D.J MacHale has written a fantasy that keeps you wondering. I’d recommend this book to a fifth grader and up. I give this amazing book 10 out of 10 stars.
I like this book because it kept me wondering. I added it to my Christmas list thats how much I love this series.
Review by Amanda
Dragonbreath is like a comic book. It is written and illustrated by Ursula Vernon. It is the first book in a series. This book is full of adventure! The main characters are Danny Dragonbreath and Wendle (he’s a lizard). Danny and Wendle have a hard time in school because of a bully.
If you want to find out more, read the book! I recommend this book for 3rd grade and up. I give this book 8 out of 10 stars. I really like the pictures and the characters are funny!
Toys Go Out
by Emily Jenkins
Toys Go Out is a story about 4 stuffed animals who want to go to school with the girl who owns them, so they hide in her backpack. When she doesn’t go to school, they’re afraid that they are going to the dump, but then they end up going to the vet. The 4 animals are named Sting Ray , Brady , Tiffany , and Stoney. Sting Ray is really frightened about going to the vet. Bardy keeps thinking that they’re going to give him shots. Then when the toys arrive at the doctor’s office, you’ll have to read the book to find out what happens.
The main idea of this book is don’t be afraid of the doctors. This book is a fantastic book for 5th grade because it teaches how to calm down. I would give this book 4 or 5 stars because it is funny and fun to read.
Review by Alexis
Love That Dog
By Sharon Creech
This book is told in poetry. It’s about a boy and his dog. He had a yellow dog that would follow him everywhere. He didn’t have a lot of friends at school, but he had one at home, his dog. The boy writes about all of his ideas and what happens to him and his dog in poems.
This is one of my favorites books, because once I read the first page, I got pulled into it to find out more. I think everybody would like this book if they read it. I think that 3rd grade and 4th grade would be pulled in like I was.This book is funny and interesting, and a little sad too. I would give this a 10 out of 10 stars.
Review by Serena
The Running Dream
by Wendelin Van Draanen
Jessica is a runner. She is 16 years old. She loses her leg in a car accident. Her sister died.This is a realistic fiction. The two main characters are Jessica and her mom. I recommend this book for 4th grade and up because its difficult. It’s also difficult because it’s sad.
I give this book 10 stars because after every chapter there is a challenge to be solved. If you want to know what happens to this poor girl you would have to read this book.
Review by Logan
By Elizabeth
CARDBOARD
BY Doug TenNapel
For his birthday, Cam’s father Mike gave him a present. It was a cardboard box. There was nothing in the box. They make a cardboard person out of the box. The next morning, when Cam wakes up, he discovers that the cardboard box is alive. He even punched Cam’s dad by accident. But I can not tell you the rest because I do not want to spoil it for you. I give this book 9 out of 10 stars, because it is funny and weird. The setting is modern day, and the genre is graphic novel. So if you like comic books, you will like this book.
Percy Jackson & The Olympians The Ultimate Guide
By Mary-Jane Knight
You need to read this book if you like Rick Riordan’s series, "Percy Jackson & the Olympians", or if you've seen the movies, and want to find out more like I did.
This book is a guidebook to the fiction book series It tells about Percy Jackson and the other characters from the Percy Jackson series. Each chapter tells about one character from the series, good and evil. Each chapter makes you want to read more.
I give this book 10 out of 10 stars. I recommend this book to 4th grade and up. This book also comes with cards for each character which are fun, interesting and give you extra information.
Review by Josh
Review by Colby
Star Wars Shadows Of The Empire
by Christopher Golden
“ A disturbance in the force....”
At first, this book doesn’t seem that great, but in other chapters it is awesome.The genre is science fiction, and that’s what I like, and I like Star Wars too. The main characters are Luke Skywalker, Lando, Leia, C3PO, R2D2, Xizor, Darth Vader, Emperor and Dash. The action starts off on Luke Skywalker’s home planet Tatooine after the Empire Strikes Back.
It is set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. There is an alien named Xizor who wants to kill Luke Skywalker. Luke’s team needs to get rid of the empire. I think Christopher Golden is a great author. I would recommend this to kids who love Star Wars, probably grades 4 and up, because it has some hard words . I love this book, because it is so cool! I would rate this book 9 out of 10 stars. Now you know a little about this book, but you're going to have to find out the rest.
Creepy Condors of California
by Jonathan Rand
This book is part of the “American Chillers” series by Jonathan Rand. I recommend this book to 4th grade and up. This is a suspenseful book about adventure.
Review by Reece
The two main characters characters are a boy and a girl. Their names are Melanie and Cameron. Melanie and Cameron go gold panning and they see a California condor. They run away and get lost.The condor keeps trying to get them.They try to fight back with the metal detector, and they hit the bird. It falls on the ground. They find out this is no ordinary condor. Read the book to find out what's going on. I give this book 9 out of 10 stars.
Review by Brenden
My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish
Mo O’hara
One day Tom's brother became a mad scientist. He won a goldfish at a fair. And it died, but the kid and his friend brought it back to life. Then the fish ran away. Where will the fish go, and what will it do? Read this book to find out.
Minecraft Handbooks
The Minecraft handbooks teach you how to play Minecraft. There are four books. There is Minecraft: Combat, Minecraft: Redstone, Minecraft: Mining, and Minecraft: Constructing. I recommend these books to all ages.The author is the Mojang Company. In Minecraft you’re in a survival world. There are zombies and creepers and other monsters. I give this book 8 out of 10 stars. I liked it because I like Minecraft, and it teaches you how to play, and how to play better.
I rated this book 8 of 10 stars. This book is science fiction. I like this book because it is exciting, and I always want to find out what is going to happen next. I recommend this book to 4th grade and up, because it has some hard words that younger kids might not understand.