Peter Pan

J.M. Barrie

208 pages

I thought I knew everything about Peter Pan. I had seen the Disney Movie as I think a lot of people have. That did not prepare me for this book. The book is so much better. Captain Hook is a diabolical, horrible, mean pirate that sticks people with his hook, right in their chest. Overall, it has the same theme of the Disney movie. Peter finds Wendy and her brothers, takes her to the lost boys and then fights with Captain Hook. But, if you want to know the real story, in a lot of detail with treasure, mermaids and some blood and death. This is the book for you. Does Captain Hook die in the end? Is it the same as the movie or does he meet a horrifying doom? Read this book to find out!

 

The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud

440 pages

This book was very intense. It is set in a city that is being overrun with ghosts. It has been this way for more than 50 years and one girl, Lucy Carlyle might be the only one that can stop them. Before she does though, she has to spend the night in the most haunted houses in England trying to stay alive. Will she make it out? Is she the one to rid the town of these horrible ghosts? The way this book answers these questions will have you screaming for more.  

The Giver

By, Lois Lowry 

179 pages                      

Lois Lowry wrote a novel called The Giver about a boy named Jonas who grew up in a place without feelings and color. People were not allowed to think for themselves and had no emotion, not even love. The people in charge of this place thought it was to protect their society. At the age of 12, everyone was given a job. Jonas was given the job of taking over for the Receiver of Memory or The Giver. The Giver has all of the emotions, all of the colors, and all of the memories from the past and he gives these memories to Jonas by touching his back. During the time he is in training, Jonas helps with one of the Newchildren called Gabriel and becomes very attached to him. When Gabriel is set to be released, or put to death, Jonas is very angry and The Giver tells him to go Elsewhere. Jonas leaves his community with Gabriel and enters Elsewhere during Christmas time, hoping to find someone happily waiting for him.

                             

 

   Olives Ocean

Kevin Henkes

217 pages

In the novel, Olive’s Ocean, by Kevin Henkes a girl named Martha finds out that a girl she went to school with died, leaving a diary entry saying she wished she could be more like Martha. The book is all about the summertime after Martha’s classmate died. Martha spends the summer at her grandmother’s house with her mother, father, older brother and little sister. She dwells on the girl that died whose name was Olive. She even wants to take a small jar of water from the Ocean back to Olive’s mother, but when she returns home she finds out that Olive’s mother had moved. It was at her grandmother’s house that Martha gets her first kiss, decides to become a writer and learns to appreciate her life. She goes back home at the end of summer ready to start school again and ready to live her own life after finally saying a proper goodbye to Olive by painting her name on the front porch with the sea water.

Where the Red Fern Grows

By, Wilson Rawls

245 pages

Where the Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls, is a story about a boy named Billy. Billy really wants to buy coon hounds so he can hunt in the forest. He saves up his money and finally buys the dogs. He trains them to hunt raccoons and gives the money he earns to his father. Billy was going against Ruben and Rainie Pritchard trying to catch a raccoon when Ruben dies. Billy is very upset about this until he visits Ruben’s grave. One day Billy decides to enter a contest to catch raccoons against grown men. They had a lot of problems during their hunt because of a winter storm, but still end up winning the hunt and some money. Later on Billy’s dogs tree a mountain lion and they have to save Billy from it. One of Billy’s dogs dies and the other dies because she misses the other dog. Billy digs a grave and buries them. When he goes back a red fern is growing there and according to Indian legend only an angel can plant a red fern, so Billy is ready to move on without his dogs.