Bud, Not Buddy

Image by: Knowledge Tree 

This is one of those books that is both funny and sad at the same time.

Bud is growing up in hard times. America during the Depression, in the 1930's, is a country struggling with poverty and hunger. Unemployment is high, and the few jobs that are available don't go to black people.

Bud lives in the orphanage since his mother died. It isn't a treat or relief when he is sent to live with a foster family, but anyway, it doesn't last long. The trouble is, Bud doesn't really belong anywhere. Bud doesn't know anything about his father, except for the clue which his mother left him. He has a flyer for a jazz band: Herman E Calloway and the Dusky Devastators of the Depression!

I like how they represent some stuff in the book like his brief case and that author did a good job describing some details in the boos which made me understand it and feel the character even more. I recommend this book for anybody who likes an adventure. The other thing I like about this book is how the title does not give away anything about the plot f the book. It is once again, a factor in the book that you remember through out the book. Since I like history, this book was just great for me because it took place during the Depression. 

Behind Rebel Lines by: Seymour Reit

Image by: The Reading Nook 

 A person requires much courage if they are going to become a soldier. It took a woman of great courage and bravery to decide to join the Union army of the Civil War without nobody forcing her. She wanted to do it

Although most people didn’t know at the time, several women (at least 400) joined the army undercover during the Civil War and no one ever suspected it. At the age of 21, that is what Emma Edmonds (a Canadian-born) did. This book fictionalizes her true story.

Emma Edmonds enlisted under the name of Franklin Thompson, but it didn’t stop there. The journey of her first alias led her into becoming a reliable spy for the Union. She created new characters for herself on almost every mission the army sent her on, so that her old characters wouldn’t be recognized by the Rebel army. Bridget O’Shea, Irish peddler. Charles Mayberry, detective. Cuff, freed slave.

Those are just a few of her undercover names & disguises. The lengths Emma went to in order to keep her true identity a secret for years from either army… amazing. All the different identities is one of the great things about the book because if you get bored of one character, before you know it, another character comes in. Sometimes I forget that this actually happened because the story is full of surprises. 

This book is very educational and I recommend it to people 12 and up. I learned many things from this book and it is something I will never forget. 

The Homework Machine By: Dan Gutman

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I always love books by Dan Gutman and one of my favorites is The Home Work Machine. I recommend this book to people of all ages because it is a fun book with twist in it so that makes you keep reading.


It tells a story about a fifth-grader Brenton is a computer genius, but the other three members of his work group think he's a nerd. So, when he tells them that he has invented a machine that does homework, they taunt him until he agrees to demonstrate. The machine actually works, and Kelsey, Sam, and Judy convince him to let them use it. 


The story is told entirely through short excerpts from police interviews which I find cool because it is something different and you really get an opinion from every character which make you understand the characters more. These interviews shows the developing relationships through the characters' own observations. There are also touches of humor in the way the four classmates talk about themselves and one another. "A dramatic and thought-provoking story with a strong message about honesty and friendship." 

Lunch Money by: Andrew Clements

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One of my favorite childhood books is this one by Andrew Clements called Lunch Money. I like this book because it involves money and as I grew up, I always seemed to like counting money and all that. I also liked the idea on how it shows you kids can be famous authors too. It also says that not all teacher are mean and "not fun" because Mr. Z helps them get their comic published.  


Greg Kenton, a twelve-year-old boy is the main character in this book and has always had an interest in money. Greg realizes that school is a good place to make money. Over the summer before going into sixth grade, after a lot of attempts at selling things like candy and toys, he begins making a comic book business called Chunky Comics to sell to kids at school. With the help of their math teacher, Mr. Z, at the School Committee they manage to get the approval for their comic book club, and the book ends listing all their successes, including having their comic books nationally distributed. That is pretty much the main points in the book. 


I recommend this book for all types of kids because I still read little parts of it today and I find the book amusing. The other I found really cool is that in my copy of the book, in the middle, there is a ripped page that was made with the book and you could still read the words so it was not like it was terribly ripped. I found that very clever! 


The other thing that made me read this book was the action. It was not like gun shooting action, it was more like action in the way that you couldn't wait to see what happens next because they characters were always tying to avoid obstacles. Last but not least, the cover of the book was pretty well thought out too. I like how it has Greg in a dollar bill holding up the comic, but I wish there were more character on it like Mr. Z and/or Maura, but maybe they didn't want to spoil the character in the book. You never know. At the end of the day, this book would be considered to me as a good roller coaster ride. 

Loser by: Jerry Spinelli

Image by: Harper Collins Children's

Loser by Jerry Spinelli is a heart touching story about a young boy, Donald Zinkoff, and why people are called "losers." This story is about how Zinkoff was one of those people, and how he also got noticed. 

In this story, you first meet Zinkoff when he is about three or four years old, and are introduced into the world of kids competing and racing. Zinkoff soon enters first grade, and goes to school. He plays soccer and other sports. He loves to just play and has no regard for the rules of the game. His teammates think it's weird that he doesn't mind losing. He keeps a positive attitude and doesn't make many friends, although he tries. 

I think is book is good for people ages 10 and up because 10 seems like a good age to understand the true meaning of this book and you need to be able to read pretty good. I believe this insert is a blending of attentiveness, energy, and just plain humor. 

He is first noticed when his fourth grade teacher, instead of placing him in the back of the classroom, like all the rest of his teachers had, places him in the front of the classroom. Kids start to notice him. A quote from the book is an example of how little they really thought about him beforehand: 

"Zinkoff has always been clumsy, but now they notice. Zinkoff has always been messy and atrocious and too early and giggly and slow and more often than not wrong in his answers. But now they notice. They notice the stars on his shirts and his atrocious hair and his atrocious way he volunteers for everything. They notice it all. Even the dime-sized birthmark on his neck below his right earlobe…"(Page 99).

Even after they begin to notice him, he is still not the greatest at everything, and he never succeeds. Unfortunately, once his peers notice him, they begin to call him "loser." But then, one day, when it's snowing, he hears that a little girl he knows is missing. After that, everything changes.

Chasing Lincoln's Killer

Image by: MMS Library

One of my favorite non fiction books is Chasing Lincoln's Killer by: James Swanson. This is the first book I read from that author and I would encourage many people to read books by this author. I found out about this book when I was looking through a Scholastic Book Order Magazine. I loved reading about the Civil War and my favorite president to read about is Abraham Lincoln so I went up to my teacher and she said I would love this book and it turns out she was right. 

There is not really a main character in the story are John Wilkes Booth and the people that helped him kill Lincoln. This story is told in a third person narrative. What made this book amazing is that it was very detailed and it made you feel like you were actually there! This book is a true account of the manhunt for John Wilkes Booth. It is also full of interesting pictures and artifacts from the time period. Anything that appears in quotes was actually said by that person which made me love this book even more. 

What keeps me reading this book is the suspense and action in this book. I couldn't put this book down. Since I love American history, I knew this book was right for me. If you like America history like I do, then it is worth reading for pleasure, but if you are one of those people who don't like history, then you probably wouldn't like this book that much. 

I liked this book, but I would not recommend this book for anyone under sixth grade, and then, only if they were really interested in history. There was an actual picture of four people hanging in the book, which can be a little eerie for some people. But overall, this is a great book to read about!

Usually I am not a big fan of non fiction books, but this book really blew me away...

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

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Another one of my favorite books that I have read in my lifetime is the classic Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney and it was a funny book. This was the first book I read from the author. I first knew about this book when I heard everybody talking about this new book that came out and I wanted to read this book and see if I liked just as much as everybody else did. 

The main characters in this book are two middle schoolers named Greg Heffley and his "best" friend Rowley. There is also Greg's mom and dad, his older brother Rodrick and his younger brother Manny. You can't forget the other characters in the book that makes this book come alive like Fregly and the others... I like these character because I can put these character in the place of people I already know and that can be funny. This story takes place in middle school so I can relate to this book. The other thing I liked about these character is that they are around my age and I can feel what they are thinking. Overall, the character may sometimes be cliched, but they are funny to read about and they make a good story.

What keeps me reading this book is the humor and its funny moments. The other think I like about this series is that, there is usually something that comes up in every book in the series. For example, the Stinky Cheese is a popular thing in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series and it comes up often. There are also funny moment the involve the Stinky Cheese. 

It is worth reading for pleasure because no matter who you are, you will find this book somewhat amusing. I would mostly recommend it to kids in their teen years because they can have more fun reading this book than adults can. But, I don't discourage adults read it because, like I said before, it is a funny book for everybody to enjoy. The only thing that I don't like about this book is that there can sometimes be a cliched parts than annoy me. But I can't speak for you, we all read differently and enjoy different types of books. 

This book is part of a wonderful series and it is a good series. This book is the first one of the series. I chose this book to talk about in my blog and not the other ones in the series because I didn't really couldn't chose which was the best so I just chose the original one. Now that  think about it, the original Diary of a Wimpy Kid is probably the best one, but I will get back with you with my final answer in which I think is the best one. If you read this series, what is your favorite Diary of a Wimpy Kid and why?

It is hard for me to find a perfect book and this is one of my favorite books I have every read. <NS>