Sofia is an 9-year-old brilliant reader who aspires to be a book reviewer. On select Saturdays, Sofia shares her favorite books with kids! She is one of the most well-read elementary schoolers that we know, so she is highly qualified for this role!
Dear readers,
This book is especially for the Katherine Applegate fans! I present to you . . . The Wishtree by Katherine Applegate! This book is also a Teachers’ Pick on Amazon!!! This book is recommended for ages 8-12.
Red is a wishtree. His friend, Bongo, the crow, is one of his residents as you might say because she lives in Red. Red is the town’s wishtree so he gets covered in paper scraps and cloth that is carefully tied onto his branches with wishes for the future. Some of his other inhabitants are a family of owls, a family of opossums and a family of racoons. At night time a girl from a family that just moved in goes outside and sits quietly and waits for Red’s inhabitants to scurry forward. Bongo likes the girl, her name is Samar. When it’s wishing day, Samar ties a wish on Red that reads “I wish for a friend”. Will the wishtree be able to make up a scheme to help Samar’s wish come true?
I love this book for its really cute illustrations. They are remarkable even though they are not colored. They look more like pencil drawings but great ones at that! When I read this book I feel my heart warm up. This is such an amazing book and Katherine Applegate did an awesome job writing this book! I just can not express how much I love this book! The author wrote this book from an unexpected point of view. Who would have thought to write a book coming from the perspective of a tree! The perspective is fun because we are simply not trees, we will never be trees. It is exciting to imagine how something like a tree would think. Of course, like almost all of the Katherine Applegate books, there is a bit of humour just to keep the mood happy! I hope that you love this book as much as I do!
If you loved this book then I highly recommend Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate! The Wishtree by Katherine Applegate is similar to Crenshaw because it is the same type of heartwarming story. The problem is not the same but Crenshaw will touch your heart like The Wishtree.
**Thanks so much, Sofia. This book holds a special place in our hearts, too.**
Sofia is a 9-year-old brilliant reader who aspires to be a book reviewer. On select Saturdays, Sofia shares her favorite books with kids! She is one of the most well-read elementary schoolers that we know, so she is highly qualified for this role!
Dear readers,
Introducing the best book ever: The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart! This is a wonderful read and I highly recommend it! This is a very adventurous and funny book. The writer has a wonderful writing style but some of the words are difficult to understand, and you need an advanced vocabulary to follow this book. I had to look up a few words in my dictionary while reading this. This book is recommended for ages 9-12.
Reynie is an orphan. He gets a tutor for school because he has already finished all of the orphanage’s high school curriculum. Reynie likes to read the newspaper. One day an ad in the newspaper calls for gifted children searching for special opportunities. It is a weird ad because it sounds like it is being written directly to children. Reynie thinks this is odd because almost no children read newspapers. To get the special opportunities Reynie has to take a test. There are many time slots available on the weekend so Reynie and his tutor, Miss Perumal, sign him up for the first session of the test. After Reynie arrives the next morning he only has to wait a few minutes. Just after he finishes the first test the test administrator tells him the test is over. When the test administrator calls the names of the people who passed the test Reynie is startled that he is the only one in that room who did. On his way to the second test he sees a girl who drops her pencil into a sewer grate. He thinks it is weird and when he helps her she offers him the answer key. Reynie declines and passes the test without her help. Much to his surprise the girl with the answer key does NOT pass! On his way to the third test he meets another kid named Sticky. He is a super fast reader and everything that he reads sticks in his head. They talk while they wait for the test and Sticky says someone in his test ALSO dropped her pencil! They are very surprised and become even more scared when a third kid enters the room and also had a kid drop her pencil and offer her the answer key. The girl who just entered is called Kate. She is very tall and always carries a bucket with her.
When they finally pass the third and fourth test they eat. They meet a new girl whose name is Constance, she is really small. Then they meet a mysterious man called Mr. Benedict. He tells them about mysterious messages that are being sent to confuse people’s minds. Mr. Benedict tells them that a man named Ledroptha Curtain is behind the messages. He also tells them that Mr. Curtain runs an institute and that he will send them there to go undercover so they can stop the messages. Follow Reynie on the rest of his exciting journey and help him save the world! Also, figure out if Mr. Benedict is to be trusted!
The many laughs this book gave me was only one of the amazing things about this book. This book was very fun to read and as more awkward characters joined the story it became even more hilarious! I do not know if I would consider this book realistic fiction even though I am pretty sure this could happen in real life. The characters are very clever, they even used Morse code to save the day! This is one of the best books I have ever read for sure, and I highly recommend it!
Sofia is an 9-year-old brilliant reader who aspires to be a book reviewer. On select Saturdays, Sofia shares her favorite books with kids! She is one of the most well-read elementary schoolers that we know, so she is highly qualified for this role!
Dear readers,
Imagine how excited I was when I figured out Nidhi Chanani, the author of Pashmina, came up with a new book! I was dying to get my hands on that book and thanks to the Macmillan publishing house, I have! (Thanks so much Macmillan!) Introducing Jukebox by Nidhi Chanani! This graphic novel is recommended for ages 10-14.
When Shaheen’s music loving father goes missing she starts to panic. She starts to feel really bad because of all of the bad things she did to her dad. At first her family just thinks he is out for a long time but when days pass they start to worry. Her babysitter takes her out to distract her and they get a snack. After a long time passes Shaheen gets worried and drags her babysitter to her dad’s music shop. They have to break into their dad’s shop because it is closed and get scared when they see Shaheen’s dad’s glasses on the floor. They go upstairs to explore. You have to read the book though to see what kind of secrets they uncover!
I love this book because of the colors. This is about the most colorful graphic novel I have seen in my life and that is SAYING SOMETHING.That is one of my favorite things about this book because when the scene is really sad you still can not help feeling happy because of the flourishing colors and your mind can not decide whether you should be happy or sad. This is definitely one of those books to lighten your mood. I also love this book because the author is making a graphic novel mystery, something that you come across very little. This is a truly unique book! I hope that you enjoy this book too!
**Thanks so much to Sofia for giving us an advanced review of this book! We were excited to see it came out this week!**
Sofia is an 9-year-old brilliant reader who aspires to be a book reviewer. On select Saturdays, Sofia shares her favorite books with kids! She is one of the most well-read elementary schoolers that we know, so she is highly qualified for this role!
Dear readers,
Today I have gathered my top 5 favorite girl power graphic novels. I really hope that you enjoy them! These books are all surprisingly different so there is still hope that if you don’t like one you will still like another. These books are probably for ages 7+.
El Deafo by Cece Bell is a really funny and sad book at the same time. It is a true story about the author but everybody is drawn as a rabbit. Cece is only four when she gets meningitis, an illness that swells the brain and can make you deaf. When her parents figure out she can’t hear, they send her to get hearing aids. At first at school she gets sent to a school for people who are hard of hearing. Then they move to a different place after her first year of school. This school is not specialised so when school starts she has to get a much bigger hearing aid called the Phonic Ear. It is big but it helps Cece understand her teacher much better. Cece always finds it embarrassing to give her teacher a microphone for the Phonic Ear.
The Tea Dragon Society by Katie O’Neil is the complete opposite of El Deafo. It is a very calm and peaceful book and for the record the characters are ADORABLE! This is an anime kind of graphic novel. Greta is a little goblin whose mom is teaching her how to be a blacksmith. Greta saves a tea dragon from a pack of hungry wolves. Greta wants to keep the dragon but her father knows who the dragon belongs to. She returns the dragon to her owner and gains respect from him. She meets a humanlike unicorn called Minette. Minette has a tea dragon too, her dragon’s name is Chamomile. They soon become friends and play together and Greta finally learns more about her mysterious friend, Minette.
Pashmina by Nidhi Chanani is an amazing book even though it is really sad. It makes you question the world you live in. Priyanka is a girl of Indian heritage who grows up in the US. She does not have a father but she has a very overprotective mother. Her uncle, Jatin, plays the role of her father. Her mom never ever tells Priyanka about India or her father. When her uncle’s wife gets pregnant Priyanka starts to become jealous because she always had her uncle to herself and she has always been his favorite child. Priyanka is so jealous that she goes downstairs in the middle of the night and makes a prayer to the Indian god Shakanti so that the baby dies. When she makes the prayer right after she feels really really guilty. When she wakes up the baby becomes sick. She thinks it is all her fault and she tears open her mom’s suitcase. There she finds a pashmina, a scarf, which will soon turn everything around!!!
Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson is a Newbery award winning book! It is hardcore fun for everyone, especially Raina Telgemeier fans! Astrid is a girl who has a friend named Nicole. Astrid is not a good friend, she only cares about herself and wherever she wants to go or what she wants to do is happening. She never considers her friends’ ideas. She always expects Nicole to like what she likes so when Astrid’s mom takes them to roller derby Astrid falls in love with it and Nicole gets scared. When Astrid hears that there is a roller derby camp she signs up instantly. But when Nicole doesn’t go Astrid gets MAD! It gets worse on her first day of camp. Astrid realises she is terrible at roller skating and tumbles into the outside of the practice arena and starts to cry. Read to see what happens to Astrid and her terrible life!
The Okay Witch by Emma Steinkellner is THE BEST-BOOK-EVER! It is a bit sad because her father is dead but also very funny. Moth thinks she is a regular girl. She is oddly fascinated by witches though and loves everything witchy. But the tables turn when she realizes that she IS a witch. She completely freaks out (in a good way) and begs her mom to teach her everything about magic. Her mom refuses and says magic can cause terrible things to happen. What she means by that is that there used to be a witch hunt. It was kind of like the real life Salem Witch Trials, just less scary. What Moth does not know is that her mom is also referring to her dad and how he is gone now. When Moth finds a cat and she notices it is a talking cat, she realizes that this must be her witchy companion. One night Moth sneaks into her mom’s room to snatch her diary so she can read it because she figures if she can’t get her mom to tell her about witch stuff her diary will. Read this book to see if Moth gets caught and to see what dark secrets she uncovers!
**Sofia, we love this compilation! Thanks for sharing it with readers!!!**
Sofia is an 9-year-old brilliant reader who aspires to be a book reviewer. On select Saturdays, Sofia shares her favorite books with kids! She is one of the most well-read elementary schoolers that we know, so she is highly qualified for this role!
Dear readers,
Wow, wow, wow, wow and wow! Presenting…My Life as a Billionaire by Janet Tashjian illustrated by Jake Tashjian! This book was surprisingly good and I loved it because even though the kid was a billionaire he still donated tons of money to charity, gave his school a top-notch media room equipped with green screens and all of that other stuff and even gave a lot of his friends presents like his handicapped friend really wanted this skater BMX wheelchair and Derek gave it to him. Also another friend of his lost her phone and he bought her a brand new one. But what I also like is that it stays really real because like any normal kid of course he buys eight thousand dollar sneakers and his own private skatepark in his backyard! Also what helps it stay real is that there are family problems about the money. This book is recommended for ages 9-12.
When twelve year old Derek wins the lottery everybody goes ballistic. The money technically isn’t his though even though his older brother gave him the ticket for doing his own chores for him. Derek isn’t old enough to cash in his check though and his older brother is. Derek has two choices, split the money half and half with his brother or want it all to himself and then their mom will take it and give all of the money to charity. Derek takes the typical approach of course and shares with his brother so he at least has some of the money and that some is in the millions! Derek is super excited to pick up his prize and his parents tell him he can do it after school. When school is over Derek is the first out of the school building and as soon as he gets the money his parents already put some aside for college tuition. His brother who is over eighteen goes off and gives his band enough money to go on tours and other stuff like a brand new super nicely furnished band bus. Since Derek is only twelve though his parents still have control over him and they have a few rules. First of all they don’t want Derek spending nearly as much money as his brother and therefore forbid him to spend way too much. So when his dad drops him off at the sneaker store he tells him only to buy two pairs of sneakers. A friend came with him too. The thing is his friend has some other ideas. He convinces Derek to buy an eight thousand dollar shoe pair for himself and a one thousand dollar shoe pair for him, his friend. Derek barely wears those pairs of shoes because he does not want his parents asking him about them since they cost so much.
Derek starts noticing that his classmates and all of the kids in school treat him differently now that he is rich. For example they exclude him from things they used to do as a group. Derek also realizes that kids who have never talked to him or noticed him are now buzzing around him like bees around a beehive. Also a lot of people have been telling him about what they really want and maybe when they lost their phone or something else, probably hoping to be noticed by Derek and get what they want or a replacement for their lost stuff.
This book is great because it shows how somebody lucky enough to win the lottery shares his money and gives it to charity and buys gifts for all of his friends. I also like this book because it teaches about spending. It helps you understand not to buy overpriced things or buy things with ridiculous price tags that may be the same quality of the same thing just with a much much much lower price tag. But mostly I love this book because it was so funny and entertaining! I almost blew up in laughs while reading it. The great thing about this book is that there was so much suspense that I carried this book everywhere I went. LITERALLY! When my parents took us for a bike ride I read the book on the way there! I am so reading all of the other books in this series!
**Thanks so much to Sofia for this review! It made us smile!**
Sofia is an 9-year-old brilliant reader who aspires to be a book reviewer. On select Saturdays, Sofia shares her favorite books with kids! She is one of the most well-read elementary schoolers that we know, so she is highly qualified for this role!
Dear readers,
This book is wonderful in the sense that it perfectly describes sisters. The thing that is really interesting and sad about this book is that the main character’s sister struggles with feelings. The main character, Olivia, tries her hardest to help her older sister but she usually can’t. The author almost made me cry in so many scenes. This book is recommended for ages 10-14.
Olivia’s big sister, Ruth, has a medical condition in which she struggles with feelings. This means that Olivia usually looks for signs on how Ruth is feeling. For example, what music she is listening to. Ruth listens to “happy” songs and sometimes she listens to “sad” songs. Ruth listens to all of these songs on an IPod. The old type, not the new mobile device that looks just like a miniature IPhone. She has had it for almost forever. Olivia wants to make Ruth happy again and she plans on taking her back to their first home. She remembers a game her sister and her called Treasure Hunt. The way that it worked was Ruth found a word like New or Sparkley. Then Olivia went around wherever they were and took photos that had something to do with the word Ruth picked. While Olivia was doing that Ruth made a playlist of songs that have something to do with that same word. After all of their tasks were completed they met back at a certain spot and shared what they had found. Ruth didn’t seem to have the illness back at her first home. She only started having bad days around the big move. Olivia is planning a road trip to their first home and she plans to find a treasure box that she buried there the last time they were there. She also plans on making the whole road trip a treasure hunt without Ruth noticing. Olivia really hopes that the road trip will make Ruth happier and stop her bad days from happening.
I sped through this book like a torpedo! This was the first book I have ever read on a kindle and I thought I would be reading less often because of that, but obviously I was wrong! I love this book! I almost cried or screamed at some parts because the author is really great at writing things and making people feel emotional while reading them. I am definitely keeping a lookout for some of her other books!
**Thanks so much to Sofia for this review. We are looking forward to reading this book and had heard it was really well done. Now we know we need to read it!**
Sofia is an 9-year-old brilliant reader who aspires to be a book reviewer. On select Saturdays, Sofia shares her favorite books with kids! She is one of the most well-read elementary schoolers that we know, so she is highly qualified for this role!
Dear readers,
This book is called Game Set Sisters by Jay Leslie. While reading this book about the Williams sisters I read things that I have never heard about, even though I have read one or two biographies on them. For example the fact that there were originally five Williams sisters! This book told me so much about the Williams sisters and really made me feel the sisters, meaning I knew what they felt and what they were going through. I loved that the author just didn’t focus on their successes but also on their downfalls like when their sister was shot. Also I need to say that the illustrator was amazing! This might just be the best picture book I have ever read in my whole life! The illustrator, Ebony Glenn has done an astonishing job showing the Williams sisters and family! Her pictures are part of what helped me be there!
This book is recommended for ages 6-10!
Originally there were five Williams sisters. Serena was the youngest of all of them. Venus was the second youngest. When they were young all five of them went every day to the tennis court with their dad. When the sisters grew older they all stopped playing until only Venus and Serena were left. Since they did not go to any fancy tennis training club they came up with ways to make them stronger. Finally they went to their first tournament together. But for the finals they had to play against each other! If you want to know who wins and what effect the victory has on the sisters, you have got to read this!
I love this book because of the illustrations! As I mentioned before the illustrator did the best job ever! I also love this book because of all of the information that I got from it. I love how it mixed the information in and you don’t exactly know that you are learning. For example I read it with my kindergartener sister and she loved the illustrations and learned a lot! I love this book because the author did such a great job in talking about the Williams family. She knows so many things about the family and writes very nicely and emotionally! I hope that you enjoy this read as much as I do!
**Thanks so much to Sofia for this review! We agree that this book is amazing!**
