Marlfox

Yet another book of the Redwall series. This one seems a bit strange just because the Marlfoxes carry axes around with them and to slay enemies they behead them. This one is interesting because the people who go on the mission seem like really young children. 

This was a book that my thoughts really got into. One of the warrior's father was really aggresive and had a bad temper. Once, he started to scream at his son because he was nearly killed by "pathetic" rats. At that point, I was at the boiling point toward him. In my mind I was screaming, "How could you say that to your own son, you beast! He's the only one you've got! You don't deserve any forgiveness at all!" Of all the great things in this series, there is one thing that really annoys me. It's when they are having a feast and they start describing the food. There is a boring page-and-a-half list with at least two redundancies in each description of food.

Christopher Mouse the Tale of a Small Traveler

I just have to say that this book is like a teeter-toter of suspense, emotion and relief. I start out just relaxed and reading about him with his family. Then I'm about as terrified as Christopher, who is being taken away from his family. But of course I'm relived that he is with some friends at a safe place and not in a horrible one. (I'm not telling what they are). Then I feel depressed about the fact that he has been separated from everyone he loves. I think you get the point. 

This book relates to many different books I've read about mice. The first ones I think of are Poppy, The Mouse and the Motorcycle, and The Rats of Nimh. They all travel to many different places and owners, going through good and bad. Another book this reminds me of this book is Bartleby of the Mighty Mississippi. Just like this, it is a short book that has lots of different settings and a final happy home. I'm getting to the end of this book and it seems like he is going to get the same type of thing (I'm still not telling) where he will stay. I can't wait!

The Excellent 11

This book is a non-fictional book about strategies for teachers and parents. I’m reading this because I want to figure out what all our teachers are thinking and what they’re trying to get us to think. So far I’ve read over the enthusiasm and adventure sections. They both had surprising, intriguing, and informative content. 

It's really amazing what this teacher (the author) has done, and the book is pretty interesting itself. The man who wrote this book seems like he's a very spontaneous teacher and he has pretty good points. His stories were touching and I think that it’s great he understands what troubled students and children are thinking, or in need of. 

When I read this I can be split between decisions. Sometimes I feel really bad for the teachers having to try and teach such difficult children, but sometimes I feel bad for the children because they are going through minimally caring teachers and other hard times. I’ve learned from this book that some teachers care about us and really try hard, but there are some teachers that really just give up on classes or kids that don’t seem interested. 

Now I know how much effort and commitment Maggie puts into teaching us, so I greatly appreciate her stretching our limitations and going past the school requirements (plus the “b” word, budget). Lets give a hand to the one of the greatest teachers ever, Maggie!

Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods

You may have heard of the Gregor series. If not, then too bad. It's quite an interesting book. For some reason, even though the warrior is a rager (has the instinct to kill there enemy), he doesn't seem so warrior-like. He gets tired easily, he's mostly a scardy cat (except for when he has the maniacal instinct to kill) and many other unwarrion-like charecteristics. That could be why he always says he doesn't want to be the warrior in all of Sandwich's proficies, but what do I know. I'm in a confusing part at the moment. Gregor just met up with one of his friends that was belived to be dead. They should be so happy to see each other, but Luxa (his friend) seems to be in a junky mood. I stopped at that part (and so did part two of the book) so I'm very curios to get back into the book. I will report back when I have more details...

Martin the Warrior

Martin the Warrior is yet another book from the fantastic Redwall series. Martin is a slave to a stoat named Badrang and his crew. This is about Martin, Rose, Brome, Grumm, Pallum and Feldoh accompanied by many other friends. I'm not complaining about this at all, but I've noticed that all of the Redwall books that I've read run along the same plot. Usually what happens is that a warrior goes on a quest to find something or someone to help them save the group of people that is being attacked or tortured by the evil ruler. There are also a few other groups such as the people who are defending themselves from the evil ruler. Then the warrior comes back and defeats the ruler. The really amazing thing that Brian Jaques does is creating completely new charecters (except for the warrior or the main charecter) creates completely new plots and creates many new settings. I might be saying this over and over again, but (unlike me) the author never ceases to suprise me. He has suspense, poetry, good charecter pesonalities and so much more (plus that other stuff that I keep going on and on about.) There are soo many books to read so I don't have to worry about running out of Redwall books for a while. I'd give this book a 10 (seriously).

Mossflower

This is another exiting book in the Redwall series. It's filled with action and strategy. It sometimes makes me wish that it would just finish the scene before going to a different one. It can be so exiting and full of suspense,but then it moves to a different group of people and leaves it for later in the book. Every time it changes scenes I scream arrrgh! in my head because it ends on a cliff hanger. They also do things really stupid or dangerous, like stealing food from the most dangerous queen in Mossflower woods, but they aren't all that scared. They even seem like they don't really care and just think they can escape in a heartbeat. It's a very complicated and thick book so I don't have too many comments to make.

Bartlaby of the Mighty Mississippi

For a short summary, Bartleby is a book about a turtle who dreams of swimming in flowing waters, but he is only a mere pet. One day he is forgotten in a pond and he soon makes a whole bunch of friends. One day he meets a crocodile. The crocodile came from the Mississippi and it wants to eat bartleby because it reminds the crocodile of the turtles in the one good home it had been in before he was taken away. The little turtle did the only thing he could think of and he tells the crocodile that he might know the way back to the Mississippi. Then they go on a big adventure to find it. When bartleby left the pond, it was a little sad because he had made so many great friends and had so much fun with them. Bartleby can barely swim in the fast areas of the steam, so I don't see why he would bother to join the crocodile. The book is a fun book to read. It's low beat but it keeps me quite interested. I'd give it a 9.