How To Survive Middle School

How To Survive Middle School is a great book written by Donna Gephart. The book is about a middle school kid named David Greenberg who suddenly finds he has a lot of problems in his life. The main thing that happens to him is that his best fiend Elliot goes girl-crazy. All Elliot wants to do is hang out at the mall and look at and talk about girls. Poor David.

I really admire David though. I admire him because he is brave and strong. At one point in the story, Elliot deserts David completely. David is sad, but keeps on going. His daily life isn't the same without his best friend (even if all he talks about is girls) and he manages to keep it together even though he feels like his heart is encased in stone. If I were David, I don't know what I would do in that situation. I think it took a lot of guts to not show everyone how lousy he felt. Luckily, in the end, all that strength pays off.

Even though this book was really funny in a lot of parts, I'm hoping a lot of thing the things that happen in the book don't really happen to all middle school kids.

The Mysterious Benedict Society

The Mysterious Benedict Society, by Trenton Lee Steward, is about four ordinary kids named Reynie, George (Sticky), Kate, and Constance. The thing that makes these kids special is that they are all very smart and have special abilities. They all take a test from a weird man called Mr. Benedict who recruits them as secret agents. They end up getting a mission to destroy a device called the whisperer, which soothes fears and reads thoughts. They kids have to keep the whisperer from Mr Curtain, the bad guy in the story, who wants to use it to dominate the world.

Unlike the characters in the Harry Potter series, the Mysterious Benedict Society kids can't do magic and they don't have any mystical powers. I did find a lot of other things in common with the Harry Potter series though. This book reminds me of Harry Potter because Reynie, Sticky, Kate, and Constance are all bound together by friendship just like Harry, Ron, and Hermione were. The are all brave and daring. Also, The Mysterious Benedict Society kids don't live with their parents, just like the kids in Harry Potter who live at Hogwarts. Both sets of kids go on all kinds of amazing adventures and have to keep things from getting into the bad guy's hands. All of these kids have to fight against evil in some form and solve mysteries. They also need friendship, loyalty and good leadership to succeed. Even though they are not all orphans, the children have all been left alone by grownups and have to learn to work together and to trust each other to survive.

The Tale of Despereaux

I am reading The Tale of Despereaux, by Kate DiCamillo. Even though I have enjoyed reading this story, I have found the book very complicated. First it talks about one character and then another and then another so it has been hard to keep track of who is who.

Once I understood who each character was, I could focus more on the story. One scene that reminded me of a similar situation in my own life was when Despereaux gets caught by a cook with a knife and seems to have no chance of escaping. This reminds me of the time I got stuck in an elevator between two floors. When I was stuck in the elevator, I felt tiny, helpless and trapped which is exactly how Despereaux feels too. I thought it was interesting that a mouse and I could share the same feelings. I really understood what Despereaux must have felt like and it made him a very real character.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes action, adventure and even romance (don't freak out -- it's not too bad).

The Sight

I am reading the book The Sight, the thirteenth book of the Warriors series by Erin Hunter. The story is about three apprentice kits (kittens) that hold the fate of the whole cat clan in their paws. The kits are unusual because they have special powers. Lionpaw can see dead warrior ghosts, for example, which helps him practice fighting moves and gives him helpful advice for the future. I think that giving these kinds of powers to a cat makes the cat seem more like a person. It surprised me to read about cats this way because it’s really not the way I thought cats would think.

I found it interesting the way Erin Hunter describes the anger some cats feel against cats that are not clanborn. For example Dustpelt, a clanborn cat, protests taking a kittypet into the clan. He says it would “weaken” the clan to include her. He is so angry he almost turns his back on his own clan leader just to keep her out.

This made me think of the Harry Potter books where Muggle-borns are also teased and tormented and where Voldemort goes so far as to make a plan to wipe Muggleborns out of the world.

Reading all this makes me feel bad that there are so many bad guys in the world, whether they’re cats or wizards. Still, I liked reading the book and I can recommend it to anyone who likes books with animals and adventure.

Into the Wild

I really liked the book Into the Wild by Erin Hunter because it is a book about warrior cats and adventure. If you like adventure, action and animals this is the book for you.

The character I most admire is Firepaw (later named Fireheart and then Firestar). I admire him because he is so brave. One time he finds out that his clan-mate Tigerclaw is planning to overthrow the clan leader Bluestar. Instead of running away Firepaw faces him and ends up driving Tigerclaw out of the clan.

Another reason why I admire Firepaw is because he is so adventurous. At the beginning of the book he is a house cat named Rusty. After being attacked by another cat, he finds out that a whole other world of cat clans and territories exists and decides to give up his comfortable "kittypet" life to join Thunderclan. After he enters the clan he changes his name to Firepaw. Once he changes his name, his personality changes too. All of a sudden he is a brave warrior cat and goes on many exciting quests. I think it is interesting how a name can really shape you and determine at least part of a character.