Archive for the ‘Student Review’ Category

Just Ella

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

justella“I-I know you won’t like hearing this, but I must tell you.  I can’t marry you,” said Ella in the novel Just Ella.  Ella Brown is just another girl living in her village.  But, when she decides to attend a ball so the prince can choose a bride, everything changes.

Author Margaret Peterson Haddix tells the story about a princess living in the kingdom near her village. It is a retelling of the Cinderella story with a twist and takes place during the medieval times.

Ella lives with an evil stepmother and has two evil stepsisters.  One day, Ella makes up her mind that she doesn’t want to work as a maid for her family nor for anyone else. So, she goes to a ball to which she was invited before running away.  Turns out, Prince Charming wants to marry her and for awhile Ella thinks this is her perfect destiny until her tutor; Jed opens her eyes to what the castle really is. How boring and pointless all the etiquette and lessons are. Soon she realizes she doesn’t love Prince Charming. But how can she break off the engagement without breaking his heart? He only wants to marry her because of her beauty.

The climax is when Ella has to find a way to escape the dungeon he locks her in for disagreeing.  Will Ella be able to escape and find happiness?

I really enjoyed this book because it had suspense and never got boring.  I would recommend this book for people nine and above!

GENRE: Fairytale

Fourth grade student Megan Chang currently attends Legacy Christian Academy.

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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

prisonerofazkabanThe book Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the third book in the Harry Potter series written by J.K. Rowling. This book is about Harry’s third year at Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry.

Harry Potter is a thirteen year old wizard who hates summer vacation with the Dursleys, who are his only living relatives, because the torture he receives. It all began when he turned eleven years old and received the shocking surprise that he had magical blood.

On Harry’s thirteenth birthday, he got an owl telling him a mad killer, Sirius Black, who is thought to be guilty of killing thirteen people with one curse, has escaped the wizard prison Azkaban and wants to kill Harry. The next day Aunt Marge, who abuses Harry, came to the Dursleys’ house. She tried to pick on Harry, but then he hexed her and she blew up. Harry grabbed his trunk and ran to the knight bus, wizard transportation.

At this point the author J.K. Rowling starts to create the main idea of the book. When Harry gets to diagon alley, he finds out that the ministry of magic is providing him with a guarded room. Harry’s best friend Ron and his family soon meet with him. They remind Harry there is a killer on the loose. Harry Potter is in grave danger, even at Hogwarts with all of his friends. When Harry got to school, the divination teacher predicted Harry’s death!

Everything seems fine at Hogwarts until Sirius Black was spotted in Gryffindor tower! The dementors, which are creatures that suck the soul out of dark wizards, have been guarding Hogwarts since the beginning of the year. The day after Sirius was spotted; Harry and Ron got dragged in a hollow tree by Sirius.

In this book, readers will learn that Sirius is Harry’s godfather and is innocent. Peter Pettigrew is the killer and the heir of the Dark Lord. I must admit that this is one of the best books I have read because in this book Harry finds out that Sirius Black is his godfather and he learns more about his parents.

GENRE: Fantasy

Daniel Hadawi is a fourth grader at Legacy Christian Academy and leads his school in the Accelerated Reading program.  When not reading he likes to play basketball.

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Student review: Julie’s Wolf Pack

Thursday, March 4th, 2010

 julieswolfpackJulie’s Wolf pack is by Jean Craighead George and illustrated by Wendell Minor.

It’s about a young Eskimo female’s wolf pack. Julie was adopted by this pack when she ran away from the male Eskimo she was made to marry in the last book, Julie of the Wolves and this book chronicles the wolves’ story for the next five years.

It happens out on the Alaskan tundra, and is a real place, but it is a work of fiction.

The wolf pack goes through the tests of the wild, including the threat of the humans in the nearby Eskimo village, a rogue wolf in the pack who wants to be the Alfa male, and a rabies infected wolf in the territory.

This story’s purpose was to get you lost in the adventure, and I believed they achieved it. I “tensed and listened” to this glorious story.  My favorite character was Kapu who managed to resolve all his problems. That is why he is looked to as the Alfa male of the pack.

GENRE: Adventure

Vivila Lih attends Legacy Christian Academy as a 4th grade student in Mrs. Um class.

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