Things to Read - On the Bookshelf (2nd/3rd Grade Edition)

I'm feeling lazy, so I asked the girls to write about their recent reads. Don't these books sound awesome?

1. A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story

P's review - I love this book because it tells you about the lost boys of Sudan. Salva, the main character, was from the Dinka tribe. His story all started when he heard gun shots at school. The war had come to his town. He had to run for miles to get away from the fighting - all the way from Sudan to Ethiopa, which takes a very long time. On the way, he loses his uncle, who is his only remaining family. When he got to Ethiopia he lived in a refugee camp. After about six years in the refugee camp, everyone was kicked out and had to walk hundreds of miles again. This time to Kenya. Months later Salva was at a refugee camp in Kenya when someone taught him how to read. They picked some boys to go to America and he was one of them. In America,he started a family . He also started a charity to build wells for Sudan. When Salva built a school and well for his enemy tribe, the Nuer, everyone was surprised. And that is the story of Salva.

2. The Fourteenth Goldfish

P's review - I really like this book so far. The book is about a girl with a cranky old grandpa, who is a scientist. The grandpa is looking for a cure to make people young again. And then he actually turns young again. So when a thirteen year old boy comes to the girl's house, she doesn't believe he is her grandpa. Though eventually she believes him because he is so cranky. So far I like the book.

3. Under the Egg

F's review - Under the Egg is incredible so far. It is a mystery about a 13 year old girl who lives in Manhattan on her Grandfather's legacy of 375 dollars. Her grandfather has recently died, leaving her basically on her own. She still lives with her mother, but her mother stopped living in the real world a long time ago. As Jack, her grandfather, would say, "As the years passed, your mother started to prefer the world inside her head instead of the world outside, until she didn't even think the real world existed." Then the girl finds a painting that she thinks could change her life forever. I've only read this far in the book, so I don't know the end yet. I highly recommend it to kids 9-13.

4. Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes

F's review - This book is hard to explain. Peter Nimble and his Fantastic Eyes is a book with complex words and an intense plot. It is about a blind 11 year old thief, who only steals to survive. He has an incredible sense of smell, and astounding hearing. He lives in a small port town, but even when he sees a giant fish, he is shocked. Would you not be shocked if you came across a giant dogfish the size of your boat when traveling to rescue a kingdom who's children are locked up and enslaved? I'm pretty sure you would be shocked. His loyal companion, Sir Tode, part cat, part horse, part man, is a knight... by default. A local dragon happened to come into Sir Tode's farm yard, eat some sheep, and choke. The next morning, when the local neighbors saw the dead dragon and Sir Tode sitting next to it, they assumed he had killed him and demanded he be knighted. And one day, while on a mission, he was fighting with a local cat while riding his noble horse in front of a old witch's home. Anyway, long story short, they woke up the witch, she cast a spell on the cat, the horse, and Sir Tode, combining them all into one odd creature, and preventing the weird creature from dying forever. So, when he meets Peter, he is hundreds of years old. Yet he looks shockingly young for his age. I recommend this book to kids 8-11.