Literature Books - Page 6

The Dangerous Days of Daniel X

James Patterson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 58 Average rating: 2.5 of 5

Give this book to your high-reading elementary student! 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book's targeted age group is clearly mis-assigned. When I first read this book I was disappointed...I wanted something along the same lines as "Maximum Ride". My problem was that I was looking for reading materials for 14-15 year old students. All those nasty little things that the other reviewers are saying, I felt. BUT...

As someone who used to teach elementary, please let me recommend "Daniel X" to you if you have one of those high-level reading students/children who read above level but have a hard time finding appropriate books. Really, this book should have been targeted for 10-12 year-old kids.

I just gave this to my fifth grade daughter. She absolutely loves it! She loves the fact that Daniel can do about anything and thinks it is wonderful that he can conjure up what ever he wants to see. She finds the book exciting and really appreciates the short chapters.

Give this book to your reluctant readers. I think they'll love it.

Editorial Review:

The greatest superpower of all isn't to be part spider, part man, or to cast magic spells--the greatest power is the power to create.

Daniel X has that power.

Daniel's secret abilities -- like being able to manipulate objects and animals with his mind or to recreate himself in any shape he chooses -- have helped him survive. But Daniel doesn't have a normal life. He is the protector of the earth, the Alien Hunter, with a mission beyond what anyone's imagining.

From the day that his parents were brutally murdered before of his very eyes, Daniel has used his unique gifts to hunt down their assassin. Finally, with the help of The List, bequeathed to him in his parents' dying breath, he is closing in on the killer.

Now, on his own, he vows to take on his father's mission--and to take vengeance in the process.

Chosen (House of Night, Book 3)

PC Cast, Kristin Cast

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 46 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Dark forces are at work at the House of Night and fledgling vampyre Zoey Redbird’s adventures at the school take a mysterious turn. Those who appear to be friends are turning out to be enemies. And oddly enough, sworn enemies are also turning into friends. So begins the gripping third installment of this “highly addictive series” (Romantic Times), in which Zoey’s mettle will be tested like never before. Her best friend, Stevie Rae, is undead and struggling to maintain a grip on her humanity. Zoey doesn’t have a clue how to help her, but she does know that anything she and Stevie Rae discover must be kept secret from everyone else at the House of Night, where trust has become a rare commodity. Speaking of rare: Zoey finds herself in the very unexpected and rare position of having three boyfriends. Mix a little bloodlust into the equation and the situation has the potential to spell social disaster. Just when it seems things couldn’t get any tougher, vampyres start turning up dead. Really dead. It looks like the People of Faith, and Zoey’s horrid step-father in particular, are tired of living side-by-side with vampyres. But, as Zoey and her friends so often find out, how things appear rarely reflects the truth…

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw (Diary of a Wimpy Kid)

Jeff Kinney

Amazon Price: $9.52 List Price: $12.95 Not yet published By: Amulet Books

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Editorial Review:

The highly anticipated third book in the critically acclaimed and bestselling series takes the art of being wimpy to a whole new level.

Let’s face it: Greg Heffley will never change his wimpy ways. Somebody just needs to explain that to Greg’s father. You see, Frank Heffley actually thinks he can get his son to toughen up, and he enlists Greg in organized sports and other “manly” endeavors. Of course, Greg is able to easily sidestep his father’s efforts to change him. But when Greg’s dad threatens to send him to military academy, Greg realizes he has to shape up . . . or get shipped out.

Greg and his family and friends, who make the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books a must-read for middle school readers, are back and at their best in this hilarious new installment of the series, which is sure to please current fans while attracting new ones.

Harry Potter Paperback Box Set (Books 1-6)

J.K. Rowling

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 265 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Couldn't be happier 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

The box set came to me quick and in mint condition! I really couldn't have asked for a better transaction! The books arrived well within the given arrival dates, and were obviously brand-new, or atleast unopened! I am very happy with this dealer and would not hesitate to purchase for them again in the future.

The whole series.... 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This series is an amazing series, one of the best, although i do have another series which i think is the best, It is not because these books arent as good, becasue they are perfect for all ages. MY favorite book series is about what intrests me most. I hope that makes since. This is a great story. It never gets old. For me, i have it in audio, and well im addicted. Like some people listen to music while working on something, i listen to harry potter. LOL. Not that i do that for all books. I can do that because i know the story so well. If it was a new audio book to me i would have to give it all of my attention. HP is like a great song that sticks in you head. I can easliy focus on what im doing, without needing to give the story much attention and still follow along. I'm not suggesting that you do this, but it improves my vocabulary, reading speed, etc. Harry Potter are great books. These are 5th grade books, which that does help toward me not needing to give it much attention. I simply think it is a must see and own.

Editorial Review:

Follow Harry from his first days at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, through his many adventures with Hermione and Ron, to his confrontations with rival Draco Malfoy and the dreaded Professor Snape. From a dangerous descent into the Chamber of Secrets to the Triwizard Tournament to the return of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, each adventure is more riveting and exhilarating than its predecessor, and now all six books are available together for the first time in an elegant paperback boxed set.

Island of the Blue Dolphins

Scott O'Dell

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 606 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Scott O'Dell won the Newbery Medal for Island of the Blue Dolphins in 1961, and in 1976 the Children's Literature Association named this riveting story one of the 10 best American children's books of the past 200 years. O'Dell was inspired by the real-life story of a 12-year-old American Indian girl, Karana. The author based his book on the life of this remarkable young woman who, during the evacuation of Ghalas-at (an island off the coast of California), jumped ship to stay with her young brother who had been abandoned on the island. He died shortly thereafter, and Karana fended for herself on the island for 18 years.

O'Dell tells the miraculous story of how Karana forages on land and in the ocean, clothes herself (in a green-cormorant skirt and an otter cape on special occasions), and secures shelter. Perhaps even more startlingly, she finds strength and serenity living alone on the island. This beautiful edition of Island of the Blue Dolphins is enriched with 12 full-page watercolor paintings by Ted Lewin, illustrator of more than 100 children's books, including Ali, Child of the Desert. A gripping story of battling wild dogs and sea elephants, this simply told, suspenseful tale of survival is also an uplifting adventure of the spirit. (Ages 9 to 12)

Bob Books, Set 1: Beginning Readers

Bobby Lynn Maslen

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Features:

• Made with the Best Quality Material with your child in mind.
• Top Quality Children's Item.

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 90 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Good content, a bit overpriced 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I got recommendation for Bob books from my kid's school teacher. I liked the content but for the price I paid for this, I expected better pictures. It seemed like the publisher skimped on colors etc. At times my kid asks that the book says 'red car'then why isn't car red? Well, because publisher saved a penny there! Either this needs to be a bit cheaper or the quality needs to be improved.

However, the reading content is very good. My kid is enjoying it and learning words. I would recommend this to beginner readers.

Priceless and a sense of accomplishment for the child. 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

When using the Bob Books, I found if used in conjunction with a phonics program, it just reinforced what I was trying to teach. We homeschool so it was vital to find something that not only encouraged my child at the stage of very early reading but was also simple. I have an accelerated learner.
She started her first few Bob Books when she was just 3 yrs old... I know many of you may think that is too young, but she was writing her own name before she turned 3 and adding & subtracting a year later.

Anyway back to the Bob Books, we originally started them and then she got hung up on one and didn't want to move on, I put the books away... Fast Forward a year later... when she was 4... we started using the phonics program called "Explode The Code" she quickly progressed and I pulled the Bob Books back out and started a reading tree, so that for every book she would read by herself, she would earn a leaf on her 'reading tree' and we put the date she read it. (This included the Bob Books) With the Bob Books we quickly mastered what was needed in addition to the Explode The Code workbooks and let me tell you.. She has EXPLODED with her ability to read.
The 2 working in conjunction the Bob Books and the Explode the Code set the stage for her ability to be strengthened as well as confidence and she is reading on a 2nd grade level and most of her peers are only starting Kindergarten this school year 2008-2009. I kinda let her learn at her pace and that is one of the many advantages of Homeschooling... we now don't have to wait for everyone to catch up... we can keep on going. :)


These are only some suggestions that have worked for our family.
Remember to do what is best for you and your family.

Editorial Review:

Bob Books Set 1 Beginning Readers

The Diamond of Darkhold: The Fourth Book of Ember (Books of Ember)

Jeanne Duprau

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

This Ember Glows Dim 4 out of 5 stars.
4 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Ever since they emerged from the City of Ember, I have been waiting for them to go back and see what has become of their city. This book finally takes us back to the City of Ember. Perhaps others may have been waiting too.


The first book of Ember presented with an amazing world unlike anything that we had experienced before. A city of hope, created with love, reflected with a greatly crafted amount of detail, suspense, sadness, and expectations. You will not find any of that here. Darkhold's Ember is nothing like the City of Ember of book 1.

This time the story is not satisfying, despite offering a reasonable explanation about the fate of those who wandered into the Unknown Regions. Other than that, the journey felt rushed and not well developed. Perhaps that was intentional to indicate that Ember is now irrelevant.

There is an entire subplot of minor characters that could be dropped to save at least 20% of the book and nothing would be lost at all.

The author also continues to explore themes of alternate energy that she touches on in her other books, especially Car Trouble.

The problem with sequels is that they get compared to the previous installments. In that department the Diamond of Darkhold is clearly the 3rd best in the series, after City of Ember and People of Sparks. Unfortunately, this also makes it the 2nd weakest.

Without question, this book is an enjoyable read for the Ember faithful and serves as a reasonable conclusion for the series. Sadly, compared with past glory, this ember glows dim...

A note of caution for new readers:

Despite the quick summary in the first few pages, new readers to the series will be lost. They will most likely not enjoy this book as it really assumes that they had read the previous three books - which really should be read as they are quite good!

Editorial Review:

It’s been several months since Lina and Doon escaped the dying city of Ember and, along with the rest of their people, joined the town of Sparks. Now, struggling through the harsh winter aboveground, they find an unusual book. Torn up and missing most of its pages, it alludes to a mysterious device from before the Disaster, which they believe is still in Ember. Together, Lina and Doon must go back underground to retrieve what was lost and bring light to a dark world.

In the fourth Book of Ember, bestselling author Jeanne DuPrau juxtaposes yet another action-packed adventure with powerful themes about hope, learning, and the search for truth.

The Outsiders

S. E. Hinton

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1529 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The Outsiders 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This was an awesome book.....my son read it for school, and my two beagle's really enjoyed the school's copy, so I had to buy another one! :)

THE BEST BOOK EVER!!! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I LUV THE OUTSIDERS I MEAN WHO COULDNT?! PONYBOY IS AWESOME BUT NO-ONE BEATS MY DARRY. DARRY RUNS THE FAMILY AND IS TOTALLY AWESOME! SODAPOP IS THE BOMB ALONG WITH STEVE! THERE ALL AMAZING I MEAN IT! TIM SHEPARD AND CO. ROCK THEY CAN FIGHT AND SO CAN BUMBLY BOYS! WHEN THEY WON THE RUMBLE I NEARLY FELL OUT MY SEAT! AND POOR JOHNNY AND DALLY TWO OF THE BEST PEOPLE TO WALK THE DARK STREETS. MAN IF I WAS IN THAT STORY ID BE LIKE WORD AND GO DARRY ITS YA B-DAY WE GONNA PARTY LIKE ITS YA B-DAY GET SHAWTY OH OH! BUT SERIOUSLY IF YOUR LOOKIN FOR SOMETHIN TO PUMP YA UP THIS IS IT! SADNESS HAPPINESS AND A GANG OF COOL GOOD LOOKIN TUFF FIGHTIN BAD TO THE BONE HOODS WHO ARE LOOKIN FOR A WAY OUT HEAR YA GO! AND I ALMOST FORGOT- GO STEVE ROCK ON TWO-BIT AND RANDY DONT SWEAT IT! BOB IS FINE! STAY GOLD YALL STAY GOLD!

Editorial Review:

According to Ponyboy, there are two kinds of people in the world: greasers and socs. A soc (short for "social") has money, can get away with just about anything, and has an attitude longer than a limousine. A greaser, on the other hand, always lives on the outside and needs to watch his back. Ponyboy is a greaser, and he's always been proud of it, even willing to rumble against a gang of socs for the sake of his fellow greasers--until one terrible night when his friend Johnny kills a soc. The murder gets under Ponyboy's skin, causing his bifurcated world to crumble and teaching him that pain feels the same whether a soc or a greaser. This classic, written by S. E. Hinton when she was 16 years old, is as profound today as it was when it was first published in 1967.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Mark Twain

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 508 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Ole Huck 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

You'll notice pretty quickly when you pick this up that Huck doesn't spell too good and his grammar isn't so hot either. But if you look a little more closely, you find that he sure knows how to use the semi-colon, and his sentence structure is picture perfect. Mr. Twain may have decided that he was going to have some fun with his charming narrator, but he sure wasn't going to sacrifice good writing to do so.

The novel, as everyone knows, is a masterpiece, and works splendidly on every level. Plot, character development, theme; everything is here. Anybody reading this review has probably read the book several times and moreover has probably read about it a dozen more so it's pretty certain that my little review is not going to add much. I would, however, like to comment on something which struck me while reading it most recently, which is how richly it evokes middle America of the mid-nineteenth century. In other words, as well as being literature of the first rank, Huckleberry Finn also functions as a thorough and fascinating historical document of a time and place that every year sinks deeper and deeper into our collective memory.

Here he is describing Uncle Silas' place in Arkansas upon seeing it for the first time. "It was one of these one-horse cotton plantations and they all look alike. A rail fence round a two-acre yard; a stile made out of logs sawed off and up-ended in steps, like barrels of a different length, to climb over the fence with . . . some sickly grass-patches in the big yard, but mostly it was bare and smooth, like an old hat with the nap rubbed off; big double log house for the white folks--hewed logs with the chinks stopped up with mud or mortar, and these mud stripes been white-washed some time or another; round log-kitchen, with a big, broad open but roofed passage joining it to the house . . . hound asleep there in the sun; more hounds asleep round about . . . outside of the fence a garden and a watermelon patch; then the cottonfields begins, and after the fields the woods."

The first thing that strikes you about this is how . . . impoverished this all is, especially compared to how we live today. And this is a cotton-field owner with a number of slaves! But this was the south: rural, poor, hot, languid. Oh, yes, we are all familiar with the palatial southern mansion from novels like Gone With the Wind; I suspect that most of the South in the 1840s was closer to Huck's description than to Margaret Mitchell's.

Here's Huck's description of the town in which the King and Duke put on their first show: "The stores and houses was most all old, shackly, dried-up frame concerns that hadn't ever been painted; they was set up three or four feet above ground on stilts, so as to be out of reach of the water when the river was overflowed. The houses had little gardens around them, but they didn't seem to raise hardly anything in them but jimpson-weeds, and sunflowers, and ash-piles, and old curled up boots and shoes, and pieces of bottles, and rags, and played-out tinware . . . There was generly hogs in the garden, and people driving them out." Charming, eh? Of course, we in our modern twenty-first century aren't immune to such slovenliness. Sometimes, historical descriptions remind us that things don't change much.

Along with his brilliant observations of humanity and the human habitat the novel also contains breathtaking descriptions of nature, especially the Mississippi River. There's heavy timber on the Missouri side, mountains on the Illinois side, the lights of St. Louis: "We run nights, and laid up and hid daytimes; soon as night was most gone we stopped navigating and tied up--nearly always in the dead water under a towhead . . . Next we slid into the water and had a swim, so as to freshen up and cool off; then we sat down on the sandy bottom where the water was about knee-deep, and watched the daylight come. Not a sound anywhere--perfectly still--just like the whole world was asleep, only sometimes the bullfrogs a cluttering, maybe. The first thing you see, looking away over the water, was a kind of dull line--and that was the woods on t'other side." How wonderfully evocative this is; how it makes one ache to experience such things!

Again, the novel is so much more than this. I'm not going to bother with the theme and the plot and the characters--what else is there to say?--but I can not finish this without giving an example or two of the wonderful humor contained in here. Here's the charming Huck after sneaking into the circus under the tent: "I ain't opposed to spending money on circuses when there ain't no other way, but there ain't no use in wasting it on them." And when the King and the Duke run on hard times: "First they done a lecture on temperance, but they didn't make enough for them both to get drunk on. Then, in another village, they started a dancing-school; but they didn't know no more than how to dance than a kangaroo does, so the first prance they made the general public pranced in and pranced them out of town . . . "

Oh, how rich this is. Rich and funny and lovely and hilarious. Read it for the pure entertainment contained in here, if nothing else.

Editorial Review:

A seminal work of American Literature that still commands deep praise and still elicits controversy, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is essential to the understanding of the American soul. The recent discovery of the first half of Twain's manuscript, long thought lost, made front-page news. And this unprecedented edition, which contains for the first time omitted episodes and other variations present in the first half of the handwritten manuscript, as well as facsimile reproductions of thirty manuscript pages, is indispensable to a full understanding of the novel. The changes, deletions, and additions made in the first half of the manuscript indicate that Mark Twain frequently checked his impulse to write an even darker, more confrontational book than the one he finally published.

The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 2)

Rick Riordan

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 101 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

After a summer spent trying to prevent a catastrophic war among the Greek gods, Percy Jackson finds his seventh-grade school year unnervingly quiet. His biggest problem is dealing with his new friend, Tyson-a six-foot-three, mentally challenged homeless kid who follows Percy everywhere, making it hard for Percy to have any "normal" friends.

But things don't stay quiet for long. Percy soon discovers there is trouble at Camp Half-Blood: the magical borders which protect Half-Blood Hill have been poisoned by a mysterious enemy, and the only safe haven for demigods is on the verge of being overrun by mythological monsters. To save the camp, Percy needs the help of his best friend, Grover, who has been taken prisoner by the Cyclops Polyphemus on an island somewhere in the Sea of Monsters, the dangerous waters Greek heroes have sailed for millennia-only today, the Sea of Monsters goes by a new name.the Bermuda Triangle.

Now Percy and his friends-Grover, Annabeth, and Tyson-must retrieve the Golden Fleece from the Island of the Cyclopes by the end of the summer or Camp Half-Blood will be destroyed. But first, Percy will learn a stunning new secret about his family-one that makes him question whether being claimed as Poseidon's son is an honor or simply a cruel joke.