Fourth Quater Outside Reading Book Review

The Lost Boy by Dave Pelzer. Health Communications, Inc., 1997. Genre: Nonfictional novel

The Lost Boy is a story about a boy named Dave. It is the sequel to A Child Called "It." It takes place in California. Dave had been abused by his alcoholic mother in his early childhood. The story is about him leaving her and going into Foster Care. He goes from the age of twelve to eighteen in this book. It is about him going from foster house to foster house in search of a place to call home where people love him.

"The Lost Boy stands shining as the premier book on the unique love and dedication that social services and foster families provide for our children in peril. Dave Pelzer is certainly a living testament of resilience, personal responsibility and the triumph of the human spirit." -John Bradshaw, bestselling author of Bradshaw On: The Family, Homecoming and Family Secrets


David Pelzer's writing style changes slightly in this book when compared to the first one in the series. In A Child Called "It," he wrote more like a child speaks or thinks. In The Lost Boy he writes like a teenager would speak or think. He takes on his child-like persona really well. In his writing, you feel like you are the one experiencing what he went through because he describes everything so vividly. I'm surprised that he could remember so much. If I was him, I would want to block those memories out. He does the exact opposite. He uses his bad experiences to educate people on what is happening in the world. I think that's the reason why he wrote these books.

"David, this is not a time to act funny. You have to understand something: You're a foster child. A foster child. And because of that, you've got two strikes against you. You have to be careful of everything you say and everything you do. If you get into trouble, we...we could lose you" (142).


I really liked this book. In my opinion, it wasn't as good as the first book in the series, but I still liked this one. My mother is a therapist. She worked in Holyoke for about fifteen years. She dealt with situations like this (but not as severe) all the time. At times she would get so stressed out about what someone was going through, she would come home and cry. I felt bad for my mother. I never really thought about the people she worked with. When I started to read this series, it reminded me of them. I realized that the ones that I should feel sorry for were the people that had to deal with his stuff every single day of their lives. I think that this book has really opened up my eyes to what is happening every day. It made me thankful for my life and it made me want to go out and help them in any way.

Third Quarter Outside Reading Book Review

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer. Little, Brown and Company, 2006. Genre: Fiction novel.
Edward and his family leave Forks in order to not reveal that they are vampires. Bella believed that they left because Edward no longer loved her, so she goes into a deep depression. She depends on her friend, Jacob Black, for a way out of the depression. She finds out that Jacob is a werewolf and that his pack is protecting Bella from Victoria. Alice then comes back and takes Bella to Italy to save Edward from the Volturi.
"The author has somehow set to paper a credible journey through and recovery from depression. Even though this is a supernatural story - I think that a lot of people who have felt broken from loss will find a kindred spirit in Bella in this book....[New Moon will] leave [fans] breathless for the third." -School Library Journal.
For most of this book, Bella's self esteem is low. The author focuses a lot on the pain that Bella feels and on what she thinks of herself and the situation that she's in. She confides in Jacob for a way out of the pain of heartbreak. This book reminds me of the book that I read last quarter, Uninvited. First, both of the main characters are dealing with mythical creatures. Second, they both either leave or get left by a vampire and it bothers them in some way. Third, a vampire wants to kill them. For Bella, it's Victoria and for Jordan, it's Michael.
"Times passes. Even when it seems impossible. Even when each tick of the second hand aches like the pulse of blood behind a bruise. It passes unevenly, in strange lurches and in dragging lulls, but pass it does. Even for me." Page 93.
I read the first book of the Twilight Saga and was amazed at Stephenie Meyer's work. I couldn't put the book down. When I was done with it, I instantly moved on to the next one. New Moon was a good book, but, unlike the book before it, it was anti-climactic. Other than that, the book was a great read and I would recommend it to anyone.
I chose the word collage for my project. Here is the link to it: http://www.polyvore.com/new_moon/set?id=6751825

Second Quarter Outside Reading Book Review

Uninvited by Amanda Marrone. Simon Pulse, 2007. Genre: Fiction Novel.

The main character of Uninvited was a girl named Jordan. She was shy, dependent teenager until a boy named Michael Green moved into town. They got together over the summer and when school started, Jordan broke up with him. A couple of months later, Michael died. Everyone said that it was a suicide, but Jordan found out that it wasn't. He would come to her window every night and ask her to let him in. His visits made her feel stressed and she turned to drugs for an answer. After a while, we find out that Michael became a vampire and he wants to get revenge on Jordan for breaking up with him. One night, when he threatens to kill all of her friends, Jordan invites him in. He tells her that he will come in later and kill her when she's sleeping. Jordan and her friend Rachel follow him and they have an eventful fight. Michael ends up dieing and everyone that knew about him was relieved. Jordan grew a lot more independent throughout the book because of the hardships that Michael put her through.

"There are some great teen vampire novels around at the moment. This one is completely different from all the others, although it's equally wonderful. For a start, it's not really a 'vampire novel' at all, even though there's a vampire in it. The story is more about Jordan learning to cope with life, and it's beautifully written." From http://keris.typepad.com/chicklet/

At the beginning of Uninvited Jordan didn't really knew who she was. She was lost and had a low self esteem. On the "Social Food Chain" Jordan was near the bottom. Michael was a popular jock, which was why Jordan broke up with him. She saw the way everyone looked at her and she couldn't take the pressure. The author expresses all of this through flashbacks and conversations. All of her characters are very realistic and genuine. I want to compare this book to The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux. The plot and setting aren't like it at all, but I believe they both have the same mood. I think that the characters of Michael and The Phantom are a lot alike. They are both trying to find a way to live in a world that doesn't except them. The moods of the book are alike because of this.

"I fumble with the screen, wishing I could make myself stop. I want to stop; a voice inside my head is telling me this isn't what I really want. My knuckles scrape roughly against the wire mesh; I pull my hand back, feeling the blood well up in the tiny scratches. I hear Michael moan; he must smell the blood. I stop searching for the latch and collapse against the screen, tears streaming down my face." (Page 86)

Once I started reading Uninvited I was immediately hooked. I couldn't put it down. This book held my attention from start to finish. I had never heard of this book or the author before, but my friend read it and recommended it to me. This book showed me how much drugs can control your life and how your friends are always there for you. It made me realize how good I've got it. Jordan's mother never payed much attention to her, which is why she got into drugs so easily. I'm glad my parents are interested in what I do and I'm happy that I've got good friends like Jordan's. This book made me more appreciative of what I have.

My project's links are underneath the D block links. It's titled Uninvited. I chose the homepage project(#11).

First Quarter Outside Reading Book Review

First Quarter Outside Reading Book Review
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
Published by Dell Laurel-Leaf in New York in 1995
Genre: Fantasy Fiction

The Golden Compass is a well-known book. Philip Pullman tells a story of another world and a girl from that world named Lyra Belacqua and her daemon, Pantalaimon. They go on a journey to the north to find Lyra’s friend, Roger, who was taken by the Gobblers. They end up meeting a lot of people, including witches and polar bears. In the end of the book, Lyra finds out that her Uncle is actually her father and that Mrs. Coulter is her mother. They also find a way to find dust.
“Philip Pullman’s award-winning The Golden Compass is a masterwork of storytelling and suspense, critically acclaimed and hailed as a modern fantasy classic,” is a quote from the back of the book.
I’ve never read anything like The Golden Compass before. The author’s use of imagery makes me feel like I’m actually in the book witnessing what is happening. I’ve only read one book that was remotely similar to it and that’s The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud. They remind me of each other because of the large amount of fast paced adventure that kept me on my toes for the entire book.
“Lyra leaped up and seized Roger’s hand. She pulled hard, and then they tore away from Lord Asriel and ran, hand in hand, but Rodger cried and twisted, because his daemon was caught again, held fast in the snow leopard’s jaws, and Lord Asriel himself was reaching down toward her with a wire; and Lyra knew the heart-convulsing pain of separation and tried to stop- But they couldn’t stop.” (Pg. 345)
The movie was the first thing that made me interested in this book. It was extremely exciting and I wanted to know more, so I decided to read it. I like to make sure that I’ll like a book before I read it, so I went online and read articles about it. These articles expressed how much other readers liked the book and this made me want to pick it up that moment. The book was much better than the movie, even if it was pretty much the same thing. After reading the first two paragraphs I thought that it would be exactly the same as the movie, but it wasn’t. The book was set at a faster pace than the movie was and it answered a lot of the questions that the movie left me with because it went into greater detail than the movie did. It was also very descriptive and made me feel like I was actually experiencing what was happening. The Golden Compass was a wonderful book and I would like to read the second one in the series as soon as possible.