Guest Post -- Review : Midnight for Charlie Bone

Title: Midnight for Charlie Bone
Author: Jenny Nimmo
Publishers: Orchard Books (Scholastic)
Genre: Fantasy, Fiction
Pages: 401
Rating: 7/ 10

The photograph that Charlie now held showed a man holding a baby. The man sat on an upright chair. He had thinning, grayish hair and a long mournful face. His crumpled suit was black and his thick pebble glasses gave his pale gray eyes a lost marble like stare.
Instead of pushing the photograph back into the envelope, Charlie continued to gaze at it. In fact, he couldn’t tear his eyes away from it. He began to feel dizzy and his ears were filled with mysterious sounds, like the hiss and swish of voices on the radio when you can’t pinpoint the right frequency.
“Oh,” he said. “Um, what…?” His own voice seemed far away trapped behind a kind of fog.
“What’s wrong, Charlie?” asked his mother.
“Is something happening?” Grandma Bone crept forward. “Aunt Eustacia rang me. She had one of her premonitions, Are you a proper Yewbeam after all?”

This is an excerpt from when Charlie bone discovers that he has powers. Also he discovers that he is a proper Yewbeam.

This book is from a series of eight. Like “Charlie Bone and the Time Twister,” “Charlie Bone and the Invisible Boy,” “Charlie Bone and the Castle of Mirrors, Charlie Bone and the Hidden King,” and “Charlie Bone and the Beast and more!” This book continues where the last one left off, so it is better to read them in order. This book is Fantasy because there are many kind of animals that are not real and also people who have different types of powers and abilities. For example Charlie has the power to hear what people are saying in photographs.

Charlie has figured out that he has powers to look in a photograph and see what is happening in the photo. The problem is that Charlie’s friend Emma has foster parents and she needs to find her real family. One family member is left - her aunt. Her dad was working and some thing went wrong with his work and he died. Now Charlie and his friends have to save Emma. Will Charlie succeed in his mission?

My opinion was that it was a good book. But, I think the author should have put more humor in the book. The book was a little confusing because there are so many characters and it is hard to keep track of them. I would think it could be better because it is not that clear at what they are doing. The chapters weren‘t organized well and the action wasn‘t continuous.

I would rate this book 7/10 because three was for the creativity, two for the illustrations and two points for the writing. Jenny Nimmo could have earned three more points by improving how she hooked the reader, how she emphasized events, and how she organized the book

I would recommend this to anybody who is a creative writer and likes to read fantasy. I say that because she has a lot of creative stuff - like Charlie’s amazing powers. Read on to find out all the cool stuff that happens in the book!!!!!

Book Review: I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I Would Have to Kill You

Title: I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I Would Have to Kill You
Author: Ally Carter
Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children
Genre: Romantic, Fiction
Pages: 284
Rating: 9.5/10
“I go to a school of spies. Of course, technically, the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women is a school for geniuses---not spies---and we’re free to pursue any career that befits our exceptional education.”
This excerpt is from the book ‘I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I Would Have to Kill You’ and is thought by Cammie, Cameron Morgan. Cammie goes to Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women. But Gallagher Academy isn’t a regular academy; it’s a school for spies. And at Gallagher Academy they are trained to do things far harder then everyday things. As a spy Cammie will go on missions, but will she experience her biggest mission when she falls in love?

Living the life of a spy isn’t easy. Nobody can know you’re a spy, and everybody thinks that Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women is an academy for snobby rich kids. Including her first boyfriend. Things are complicated. Josh doesn’t know who Cammie really is. And Cammie isn’t even allowed to have this relationship. Nobody besides Cammie’s roommates know about this.

“If I’m ever on a mission, I want Bex beside me, and Liz far, far away, with about a dozen computers and a chessboard."
This is thought by Cammie.

This excerpt describes my favorite characters in this book, Liz and Bex.

Liz, Elizabeth Sutton is one of Cammie’s roommates, and the brainy one. She is usually the one who is the look out and the one who gives all the information for the plans to be carried out. In their adventures Liz, Cammie, Bex (roommate), and Macey (also another roommate) are together trying to keep each other safe. Bex, short for Rebecca Baxter, is the energetic one. She likes to do spy missions like Cammie, and is the type that is up for killing a guy with her bare hands (if that person was a bad guy).

This is the first book of the Gallagher Girl series. After this there are so far 3 more books in this series. ‘Cross My Heart And Hope to Spy’, ‘Don’t Judge A Girl By Her Cover’, and ‘Only The Good Spy Young’.

This is the second Ally Carter book I have read. From what I have read so far, Ally Carter is a great writer. She includes a bit of romance in each book, but on the whole, the books she writes are full of adventures. I recommend this book and its series to anybody who likes some good romance and adventure.

Will Cammie’s relationship with Josh go well? Read ‘I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I Would Have to Kill You’ and find out.

Book Review: Mockingjay

Title: Mockingjay
Author: Suzanne Collins
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Genre: Fiction, action, romance
Pages: 390
Rating: 9/10
“My name is Katniss Everdeen. I am 17 years old. My home is District 12. I was in the Hunger Games. I escaped. The Capitol hates me. Peeta was taken prisoner. He is thought to be dead. Most likely is dead. It is probably best if he is dead. . . .”
This excerpt is from the book Mockingjay, and thought by Katniss Everdeen, as she paces through the place, District 12, that was her home. Now Katniss has to lead the rebellion as the Mockingjay, against the Capital, the government of Panem (the government is the reason so many people are needlessly dying). The setting of this book is North America after a huge fire. The Capital is in the Rockies, and District 12 is in the Appalachian Mountains.

This is the thrilling third book in the “Hunger Games” series. In the previous two books, ‘The Hunger Games’ and ‘Catching Fire’, Katniss fought in the 74th and the 75th hunger games. In the 75th Hunger Games, Katniss and her fellow tributes set up a plan to get out of the arena (the place that the Hunger Games takes place), but Peeta was captured by the Capital.

Katniss is now the head of the rebellion. She is also known as the Mockingjay. But now that certain events have taken place, Katniss is heading to District 13, the district rumored to be destroyed for rebelling against the Capital.

“I must now become the actual leader, the face, the voice, the embodiment of the revolution.”
My favorite person in this book is Prim. Full name: Primrose Everdeen, Katniss’s little sister. Prim, in this book and in all of these books, is an angel, is sweet, and is a quiet girl, who charms anyone. She is also a healer like her mother. But in this final book, will she help Katniss capture victory? Or will she and Katniss be surrounded by trouble ?

As Ms. Collins writes ‘Hunger Games’, ‘Catching Fire’, and ’Mockingjay’, she writes out feelings, making the book have a little of it’s own special uniqueness that makes me want to read it over and over again. It takes real skill to write a masterpiece, and with these books Ms. Collins has created a few.

Out of all three books I like the books ‘Catching Fire’ and ‘Mockingjay equally. Mockingjay, just confused me a little, since it seemed surprising that Katniss would actually do the things she did. But those are my opinions. Read them all, ‘The Hunger Games’, ‘Catching Fire, and ‘Mockingjay’, and compare them to see which ones you like the best.

Who will Katniss chose, Peeta or Gale? And the biggest part yet, in the end will Katniss put a stop to this evil? Read the Mockingjay to find the end of this thrilling adventure.