6th Grade Summer Book Reviews Part 2
The Lad of the Silver Apples
Written by: Nancy Farmer
Jack Crookleg lives with his mother, his father and his beautiful, spoiled little sister Lucy. Father would do anything for Lucy, even buy her a slave just because she was being good. But during a celebration, things go terribly when Lucy wears silver to the celebration and brings bad luck to the whole village, which causes the Crooklegs and Pega, a slave that is later freed by Jack, to temporarily go mad. Because it is thought that Lucy has demons, Jack, his father, and Pega to bring her to a monastery. But while there, Lucy is taken by the Lady of the Lake. Later Jack and Pega are forced to find the water of the kingdom after it disappeared. While they search, they find an old friend of Jack, Thorgil. They also meet the hobgoblins where the find Hazel, Jack real sister. They also find Lucy with the elves but learn she will not return as she is one of them. After staying with them, they escape to the upper world with Ethne, an elf girl. They tell Mr. Crookleg about Lucy and they live happily. -SJ
_Outcasts United_ is a true story from 1997. There were a lot of refugees in Clarkston, GA, so Luma Mufleh decided to start a refugee soccer team for refugees who couldn't afford to be on a regular soccer team. Luma grew up in Jordan where she didn't have many freedoms being a woman. After she graduated from college, she decided to stay in the States, but her family decided to cut her off. Luma started three different teams, the under 17, the under 15, and the under 13. Their teams were called the Fugees.
Eight-year-old Jeremiah came as a refugee from Liberia with his two brothers and his mother. They were trying to escape the civil war there. So when Jeremiah found out that there was a soccer team, he immediately joined. He ended up being on the under 13 Fugee team for many years and they had many victories together. On the team there were kids who came from many different cultures and countries. At first they were uncomfortable on the team because they didn't like being around people who looked and acted different from themselves, but soon they learned to get along well.
I liked how the author made a creative and interesting story out of the history. I also liked how he described the soccer games because he made it easy to picture what was going on. The soccer teams ended up creating better relationships between the town and the refugees. -BK
We first see Coraline being courageous when she ignores warnings from her neighbors about her being in danger. For example, she goes through a locked door which turns out to be a portal that leads to another world even though Mr. Bobo’s mice warn her not to. She even ignored the ladies downstairs who read her tea leaves and told her that she was in danger and not to go to the well by her home. This makes her courageous because unlike other kids who might be scared, she is brave. In this other world, Coraline has “other” parents who are very nice to her in the beginning, nicer even than her real parents, but they have buttons for eyes. When they tell her she can stay in their “perfect” world if she sews on buttons for her eyes is when she realizes that they are evil. Coraline proves to be really courageous when she stands up to her now really mean “other mother” by refusing the button eyes.
As punishment, the “other mother” forced her through a mirror where she met trapped souls of children. She also realized her parents were missing when she returned to her normal world. This is when she knew she would have to save them all. To do this, Coraline bravely proposed a game with her “other mother”. She had to find the eyes of the three ghost children in order to get her parents back, which she did. This frightening adventure Coraline went on shows just how courageous she is. I personally think Coraline is a very adventurous and brave person. As a character, I really like her, and I would recommend this book to other people. -SS
Highway Cats
This book by Janet Taylor Lisle is about a group of cats and kittens that were dumped onto a highway at some point in their lives and now live in the forest. Because they have to survive on their own, these highway cats are tough. That is why it is so strange when the cats get together to protect the kittens that survive a toss onto the highway and the forest. According to Shredder, the cat that finds the kittens first, the kits are special because they glow blue and somehow survive their fall off the truck. The story is told in the point of view of the highway cats who must solve an important problem. They will need to protect their home, the forest, from humans who want to create a new highway for business.Two of the characters in the story that I want to talk about are Khalia Koo and Shredder. Shredder, we already know, is the cat who finds the kittens on the highway. He made a bet that they were alive, and he won. Because of this, he feels a special connection with the kits. Khalia Koo is a Siamese cat who was once beautiful but now covers her face under different materials every day to hide her scars. She runs a rat business and becomes interested in the kittens, because she wants to shape them into trustworthy workers. Like the rest of the highway cats, Khalia Koo and Shredder are really tough, but for some reason, the kittens make them feel all warm inside. The kits give all of the highway cats hope, and they end up becoming the reason the cats get to keep their forest home. The kits stop the construction workers, but so do the rest of the highway cats who come together to fight against the highway being built on their land. -SS