Book Review Submissions

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1	Timestamp	Title of Book:	Author:	Please write a brief summary and review of the book.	What is your first name and grade?	What is your name and grade?

2	3/25/2014 9:12:18	The Ocean at the End of the Lane	Neil Gaiman	This is the story of a young boy in England in the 50's who befriends a a mystical girl and her family. Strange things begin to happen after a boarder at the boy's home kills himself in the family car. A window between this world and the realm of spirits and supernatural beings in opened, bringing with it a new nanny who has bad intentions. The boy must rely on the magic of the girl and her wise mother and grandmother to set things right again. Gaiman's writing is vivid and alive with imagery. The depiction of other-worldy creatures made me uneasy and amazed at the same time. It's a quick read, at 178 pages, but it feels epic!	Mrs. Green
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7	5/22/2014 9:41:47	test	test	test
8	7/17/2014 10:16:07	Temple Grandin	Sy Montgomery	Temple Grandin was written by Sy Montgomery. Temple was an autistic girl who was picked on in school and her father didn’t love her. She found science a way to integrate her way into society.It was a very well thought out book with the right amount of pictures in each chapter making the book an insider's look into her life. With her autism she could see what animals would fear or not like and block it out and make it better. I can relate to the Temple through my sister. She has Asperger’s, a high functioning form of autism. She can do almost the same things as Temple when she was younger. Until she started getting speech help so she could talk and be able to work and function “like a normal person.” This wasn’t so much as hard for me was it for my parents. In the end it started working out when she got into public schools and started making friends and openly talking with people about what she liked. I really liked the book. It was well written with pictures to make you more invested into the book. My favorite part was when Temple hit the girl with the book. It showed that we don’t need to submit to the bullying around us. No matter what condition or disease you have. So to anyone who reads this make sure you feel empowered to not take guff from anyone who is bullying you. My least favorite part was when she got had to calm herself by getting into the squeeze machine. I dont know why, just the thought of getting into the same thing a cow does gives me the heeby jeebies. I wouldn’t change anything about the book. This book is a 4 stars out of 5. This book is REALLY good and it gives a different perspective of an autistic girl who deals with school and the world around here. I would recommend this book if you liked different perspectives (mostly disability books) and nonfiction books.	West Hartford Summer School!
9	7/17/2014 10:16:07	Temple Grandin	Sy Montgomery	The author of the Temple Grandin was Sy Montgomery. The book was organized by reading about Temple’s life and the challenges she had to go through in order to prevail through her autism and make herself a living. Temple Grandin who was diagnosed with autism at the age of four had problems when she was a kid. For example she couldn’t speak until she was four. She never hugged her mother and she threw many temper tantrums. Unfortunately Temple was pressured by her psychologist and abandoned by her father. Both thought that she was sick minded and retarded.I can relate this book to One-Handed-Catch. One-Handed-catch is about a boy named Norm who lost his arm to a meat grinder and must find a way to play baseball without one of his arms. This is similar to Temple Grandin because even though Temple was autistic, she still persevered in life to get what she wanted.My favorite part of the book was when Temple was in her high school and she was making new friends. My least favorite part of the story was when she was given a gross out tour in a facility to scare her off.I would recommend this book for people who would want to learn about autism or people who are actually autistic. I would rate this book a 4 out of 5.	West Hartford summer school
10	7/17/2014 10:18:45	Temple Grandin	Sy Montgomery	Temple Grandin was written by Sy Montgomery. The book was organized chronologically so that we could understand the order of events that happened in her life. Temple Grandin is about a girl who was diagnosed with autism. She was often teased and her father called her a retard because she acted differently than everyone else. She couldn’t understand the words that people said because she thought in pictures. Temple loved animals, whenever she was around a horse or a cow she felt calm and so did the animals. Temple has always loved to draw and create things. She created a dip vat that would actually make the cows feel less scared to go in the water. There have been times when I felt exactly like Temple. For example, when Temple saw the room where on one side of the room someone looked small but on the other side it looked like they had grown, she yelled out “How did they do that!” I have seen illusions on TV and in books that looked super cool and I have wondered how they do it. When Temple got her machine taken away, she was mad because nobody believed that it helped her relax. I totally get why Temple would be mad because she worked hard building her machine and the people who took it away should have tried it out before jumping to conclusions. I really liked the book. My favorite part of the book was when Temple made the squeeze machine. My least favorite part of the book was when Temple’s father called her retarded. If I could change something in the book, I would change the word retarded to unusual or weird. I would recommend this book to another person. Someone who would be interested in learning more about autism would definitely like this book. I would give this book 5 stars because it went deep into the story of how Temple’s mind worked and how she came about doing the things that she does now.	west hartford summer school
11	7/17/2014 10:19:49	Temple Grandin	Sy Montgomery	The book I read was Temple Grandin by Sy Montgomery. The book was well organized in thirteen chapters. Each chapter talked about different stages in her life with all of the struggles that she faced. This book talked about how Temple Grandin was diagnosed with autism and as a child, she encountered academic issues and bullying. She invented systems that improved how animals are treated and slaughtered. Now she is raising awareness of autism and is telling people with autism or Asperger’s to embrace their unique gifts. This book is different than any other book that I’ve read or any other movie that I’ve seen because i’ve never really read a book or seen a movie on a topic like this. My favorite part of the book was near the end of the book when Temple is talking about her “hug machine.” She said that she doesn’t really use it anymore and said “I’m getting into hugging people now,” (pg.,130). My least favorite part of the book was when her school psychologist thought that she was the product of a sick mind. If I could change any part of the book it would be when those men put blood and cow guts on Temple’s car. I was really disgusted by this BECAUSE...you finish this sentence I would recommend this book. I think that people that are into non fiction or historical fiction would be interested in this book. I would give this book a rating of 5 out of 5 stars because this book was well organized, the story was well told, and it gives us a better understanding of the autistic mind.	west Hartford summer school
12	7/17/2014 10:20:28	Temple Grandin	Sy Montgomery	Temple Grandin by Sy Montgomery is about a woman with autism named Temple Grandin. She is an inventor and she also helps how animals are treated. She changed the way people see autism today. This is a story of her achievements and difficulties and how she changed how animals are treated. I can relate to Temple because people didn’t always believe in her and at my old school people didn't always believe in me. She would prove them wrong and I loved to prove them wrong and so does she. She continued to work and to make inventions and now she is a very important person. She has changed how animals are treated and made a huge difference for how animals are treated. For example, "Temple knew her design was a breakthrough. With her video camera mind, she could run the images of cattle going through it like a movie in her head; she saw that it would work perfectly. So she was shocked - and devastated - when the dip vat was finally built and the cattle entered it for the first time. They began to slip and fall! Two cattle drowned that day,” (pg.92). And she saw why. The cowboys who ran the vat couldn’t believe that the cattle would voluntarily enter it. they were sure the animals would have to be forced down the ramp. So they had ignored her instructions, installing a slippery metal sheet over her non slip ramp. As soon as she discovered the metal sheet, Temple made he cowboys take it off . And then to the cowboy’s amazement, the design worked perfectly - just as she knew it would.” I did enjoy the book because it was very inspirational. I think my favorite part of the book was when she created the dip bath because it showed that anybody can make a change if you try. My least favorite part was when the people in the story didn’t believe her and put a slippery metal slope in the dip bath and ended up killing the cows. If I were to change anything in the book I would have to change history because this is as true story, but if it were to change I would change the Spencer Foods Plant because that was cruel and sad and no animal should have to go through that. I would recommend this book to many people because this was a very good book. I think that most people would like this book because it is a true story about conquering challenges. I would not recommend this book to people that are squeamish and love animals so much that they can’t even bear the fact that we eat them for food. They talk a lot about animals getting hurt or being killed in this book.	West Hartford Summer School
13	7/17/2014 10:55:39	Rot & Ruin	Jonathan Maberry	Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry. It takes place during contemporary times…if it happened today, we would be living in a zombie apocalypse. In the book, almost three fourths of the world is either dead or infected people. Everyone has to survive with only their wits and what the can gather from abandoned stores, houses. This book follows two brothers named Tom is a bounty hunter who kills zombies in a different way than “normal” bounty hunters. The conflict finally arises when Benny gets too deep with the mysterious lost girl who all the bounty hunters in Mountainside have seen. Benny (a new found “bounty hunter” in training) goes with his brother to investigate what has happened to the lost girl. When the other bounty hunters find out, they’ll do anything to get the information of her whereabouts. And I mean ANYTHING. In this book, there is more imagery than any other literary device. With graphic descriptions of zombies and killing people and eating them it gets quite interesting fast. For example, “All of the colors, you know? The bright red. The pale white or bloodless skin. The gray lips and blank eyes. The blue from the police uniforms, the blue white areas of electricity as they used tasers. In a weird, sick way it was beautiful,” (pg. 136). I really liked the character Tom. He seems like he’s a tough guy and that he just has no limits besides himself and even then he can’t stop himself. It’s cool how he is a role model. Even to stronger more “famous” bounty hunters. He kills zombies for a purpose and he doesn’t show off. He’s an all around cool character. I would recommend this book for people who have an interest in gory zombie books. This book is very intense, action-filled, and is very suspenseful. You fall in love with some characters and hate others. I give this book a perfect 5/5 stars. I would read this again and encourage others to read this book.	t West Hartford Summer School!c
14	7/17/2014 10:56:21	To Kill A Mockinbird	Harper Lee	To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee Takes place in the year of 1960 in the South. The most important problem in the book is that Scout doesn’t want to be a girl and do what girls are supposed to do, but everyone in her neighborhood wants her to act more like a girl. The problem started when Jem was doing all of these really cool things around Boo Radley’s house. Jem wanted Boo to come out of his house so that he could see what Boo looked like. Scout wanted to see Boo too so she tagged along with Jem. The conflict of Scout not wanting to be a girl has not been resolved and never will be resolved because Scout finds that boys have all of the fun, like causing mischief. Scout also didn’t like to wear dresses because she claims that she can’t move around in them. Jem and Dill are two major characters. Jem faced a broken arm and Dill had to deal with a teacher who doesn’t like the fact that Dill already knows how to read and write (even though he’s only four years old). The characters are pretty believable and predictable (if you lived through the 1960s). The characters are like the characters in the book The Outsiders because both books take place at around the same time when it was common for an 8-year-old girl to have her very own air gun. The author used imagery to describe the fight that Jem and Scout had. It was pretty effective when Scout threw herself onto Jem and yelled “ Ain’t so high and mighty now, are you!” (pg.184 ). I could pretty much see her taunting Jem. There were some parts that excited me, and scared me. When Jem, Dill, and Scout were playing around Boo Radley's house, I was excited and scared. I was excited to find out what was going to happen, but scared because I didn’t know if someone was going to die or get badly injured for playing around his house. “Let’s try to make him come out” (pg.16) “If I got killed, what’d become of you?” (pg.17) I was also excited when Scout got to meet Boo Radley because we had been wanting to know if Boo was dead or alive for the longest time. Yes I would recommend this book to another person. Someone who would like this book would be someone who likes classics and adventure. I would give this book 5 stars.	west hartford summer school
15	3/26/2015 10:13:30	dust & decay	jonathan maberry	now after months of training with tom benny's zombie hunter brother they are ready to leave their home forever and search for a better future.	sara 11
16	4/16/2015 8:53:16	Death of Salesman	Arthur Miller	The Lomans, Willy, Biff, Happy and Linda all want to be successful but find it hard when people's views come in the picture, like biff wanting a girlfriend, Biff not trusting his dad, willy which makes him ashamed of himself. A great play by Arthur Miller which, I thought, brought a great message of what being poor can do to you, and how hard it to live a stable life. All the characters are very complex and very different from each other. Arthur Miller was great at mixing happiness with sadness!	Anthony, Grade 11
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