Middle School. The Worst Years of My Life by James Patterson and Chris Tebbetts, illustrated by Laura Park

Today I will be talking about the first book of a series entitled The Middle School. The Worst Years of my Life by James Patterson.

A special thanks to my cousin Chiara, who first introduced me to this series when I was on vacation in Italy. Of course, since I got this book in Italy, I read it in Italian (Scuola Media. Gli anni peggiori della mia vita).* (Again!)

The main character is Rafe Khatchadorian, an energetic young boy who is sharing the story about how he attempted to survive a whole year of school. He lives with his mother, his sister and his imaginary friend Leo. He goes to Hills Village Middle School. He is constantly planning something crazy and getting in a ton of trouble. Watch Rafe try to manage middle school whilst avoiding bullies and teachers!  Rafe Katchadorian’s crazy schemes are worth a barrel of laughs. For example, one of the most hilarious part was when he met his Spanish teacher, Señor Wasserman. It was so funny that even my mom laughed thinking of her Spanish teacher! I loved it. This series is extremely funny and exiting.

Will he survive middle school? Or will he be in serious trouble?

Read the book to find out.                                                                               

Recommended to readers from 8-12 years old. 

*Italian Translation: Tante Grazie alla mia cuginetta Chiara, che mi ha fatto vedere questa serie durante la mia vacanza in Italia.

Percy Jackson e gli Dei dell'Olimpo. Il Mare dei Mostri.

English title: Percy Jackson & the Olympians. The Sea of Monsters

 
Hello, it’s Lorenzo again! I am sorry for the delay. I have been very, very busy recently. But I have read a lot of good books lately, so I have lots of ideas. Anyway, the book I am writing about is called Percy Jackson: the Sea of Monsters. I received this book as a gift from my uncle and aunt. Being Italians, they sent me an Italian copy and, even though it was fun, I had to deal with some of my classmates making fun of me for reading it!!!!!!!!!! They don’t know what they’re losing!

This book, part of a series, is about a young teenager who is actually the son of the ancient Greek god of the sea, earthquakes and horses, Poseidon. Percy's mother is a human and for that reason Percy is a half-blood, meaning he is part human, part god.

Using his magical sword, Vortex, and accompanied by his friend Annabeth, also a half blood, and his brother Tyson (Percy doesn’t know that he is his brother until near the middle of the book), he must embark on a treacherous journey to save the world… while being chased by cops!

A dark evil from the past is rising, and only they can stop it. The pressure is big, the stakes are huge! Will the heroes survive the journey? But more importantly, will they save the earth? Ahhhhh! All this thinking is making my head explode!!!! Find out!

 The fact that my book was in Italian made the book harder to read. But, I still really liked it because it is filled with surprise and you never know what’s going to happen next in the story.

Recommended for people who are adventurous and passionate readers.

Neil Flambé series by Kevin Sylvester

Spectacular work!

Even though I read only 2 of them (I am actually reading the third, Neil Flambé and the crusader's curse ), I can tell why it is popular! This series was written by Kevin Sylvester.  He won a Silver Birch award. For those who don't know, kids were the judges! The plots are mixes of real and false elements. For example, the Marco Polo mentioned in the first book was really an explorer/merchant from Venice, Italy, who served the Emperor(Khan) named Kublai. Kublai Khan was the ruler of the Mongolian empire. I  learned that from both my Marco Polo book (in Italian) which was given to me by my Nonna ( when she gave it to me she said, "It's to teach you about Marco Polo" (high pitched, Lady voice) and  Neil Flambé and the Marco Polo murders.
I learned about this series when it was assigned to me at my "battle of the books club." It did not look very promising to me at first, but let me tell you, I changed my mind as soon as I got on the first or second chapter, and now I am hooked. (P.S. That was partially thanks to my mom. She gently forced me to read it, all excited about the Marco Polo stuff. Well, it was also because of my school's librarian!) The first book, which is also the first I read,(duh!)  is Neil Flambé and the Marco Polo murders. The second one that I read is called Neil Flambé and the Aztec abduction.
I would recommend this series for all ages above 9 years old. It combines mystery, adventure, fiction and reality. The main character, Neil Flambé, has to be a puzzle solver, must be able to think under pressure and must be able to balance his career(s). This is very hard considering that he is a 14 years old successful chef and, that being hard enough, he has a secret side job as a human bloodhound for the Vancouver Police Force.
He has a very sensitive olfactory nerve (nose) which makes him a prodigy in the kitchen, and an expert crime solver. 
   You should totally read this series! (and by the way, my mom was right!)

Spirit Animals Series_Awesome reading!

Spectacular Series!

This series consists of 6 books, with a 7th that has not been released yet. The seventh should be published this coming April. I can't wait! It also includes a special edition which contains legends not told in the other books.
I read all of them but I only have 2. That's because of my mum. She says that I read them so fast that our house would soon be flooded by books. (It's true!). I personally think it's because of the money...She would need 10 jobs to keep up all the book buying! And then my mom would  just be all (high-pitched voice), "We'll get it at the library!"
All the books are set in another world (Erdas), which is much like earth but more old fashioned.
The series is called Spirit Animals because  in Erdas, once a child turns eleven, he/she drinks a special nectar and hopes to summon a spirit animal.
The main characters of the stories must join forces to defeat a long lost evil.
These books contains lots of adventure and each chapter in each book leaves you wanting more. This book contains some violence. An interesting fact about this series is that each book is written by a different author. I recommend it to people from 9-14 years old because younger readers might get scared and teens might not be interested.  Adults might like the books, though.
One cool thing about each book is that you find a special code which allows you to play the Spirit Animals video game on computers. For these reasons I gave it to one of my best friends for his birthday. Let me tell you, reading is not number one on his fun list (actually, it isn't even ON his fun list!)  I think that because the books come with a game code, he liked the one that I gave him more.
A least now I know SOMEone will know what I am talking about.(If you are going to read them, then besides you!). I also gave him another book from another series. I'll review that book later!



                                              

Why this blog?

Hello! My name is Lorenzo and I am 9 years old.
I am the blogger here!
I love to read. For this reason, the purpose of this blog is to rate books. If you know some good ones, you can suggest them to me and I might rate them...Of course, I will read them first!
Remember, I am nine years old so the book has to be appropriate! Make sure they're not too scary because I do not want nightmares (I HATE nightmares!)
I like reading adventure books because they make you feel like you are living the moment inside the story.
 What about the chocolate part?
Well, that was just a joke. I am not saying that I don't like chocolate, I am just saying that it's a wise decision to not eat chocolate while you are reading...

 

Happy Reading!

Lorenzo