My Reading Blog
Friday, December 31, 2010
The Face on the Milk Carton
I really like mystery books, so my teacher recommended that I read The Face on the Milk Carton, by Caroline Cooney. It's a short read, only 184 pages, and I like short books because I only have so much time to read. The book is really suspenseful and the author leaves you hanging at the end. This book is the first in a series of four, and I've already started reading its sequel, Whatever Happened to Janie? The third book is called The Voice on the Radio, and the conclusion to this series is called What Janie Found.
This book is about a fifteen-year-old girl named Janie Johnson who lives in Connecticut. She is an only child and has two very loving parents. One day when she was at school she took her friends milk carton because she needed it to wash down her peanut butter sandwich. She noticed on the back of the carton that there was a three-year-old girl who had gone missing. That girl had the same bright red hair as Janie did, and Janie swore that was her. She started investigating and came across some interesting information. She started to really pay attention to her life; noticing that she didn't have any of her parents features, or that her parents had never shown her any of her baby pictures under five-years of age. She had a feeling that she was that girl who got kidnapped twelve years ago but was to scared to tell anyone. She finally told her neighbor/best friend, Reeve, about all of these things that she was finding out about herself.
This book is really suspenseful and the author's detailed writing makes you not want to put it down. Since it's really short, you could probably finish this book in about a week. The front cover of the book gives you a list of a bunch of other books that this author has written, including Code Orange, Diamonds in the Shadow, What Child is this?, and The Girl Who Invented Romance. I really like her style of writing and am definitely going to look into these other books. I also found out that a movie was made from this book, and I can't wait to see it!
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Wednesday, December 15, 2010
I am Number Four
I read the book I am Number Four by Pittacus Lore. This book is a fiction story written in first person. The cover is what first drew me to the book. It's bright orange with a cool, textured symbol. I love mysteries and books with action in them, which was another reason why I chose this book.
The author uses a hook to capture the readers attention in the beginning- "The door started shaking." The book is about a fifteen year-old boy who is from a planet called Lorien. He had to escape when he was a little boy because of an invasion of the Mogadorians. There were only 15 people kids that escaped, and they were brought to Earth for safety. The symbol on the front of the book represents the planet Lorien. The basic story line is that the main character, John, has to avoid running into the Mogadorians on Earth when they come to find him. The fifteen kids have to be killed in a certain order, and John has landed spot number four. Each of these "aliens" have to try and blend in with everyone else and stay hidden to protect their race from dying out.
The author is very descriptive and described the scenes and characters especially well. The setting takes place in Paradice, Ohio, which turns out to be symbolic. It was the "idealistic" place for him to live because there was a small number of people and it didn't attract too much attention. In the beginning of the book, I loved how the author introduced the two supporting characters, Sam and Sarah Hart. This is what he wrote... "One kid, gangly with thick glasses, stands alone. He's wearing a black NASA t-shirt and jeans, and can't weigh more than a hundred pounds. He has a handheld telescope and is scanning the sky, which is mostly obscured by clouds. I notice a girl taking pictures, moving easily from one group to the next. She's shockingly beautiful with straight blond hair past her shoulders, ivory skin, high cheekbones, and soft blue eyes." The detail that the author uses really engages the reader and makes you want to keep reading.
If you like the Harry Potter Series or the movie The Incredibles, you would like this book a lot. It is a mystery and is really action packed! I can't wait to see the movie that's coming out February 18th, 2011.
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