Elephant Run

Elephant Run is written by Roland Smith. It is 318 pgs. long.

In 1941, bombs are being dropped on London. One night fourteen year old Nick Freestone's apartment is destroyed. Nick's mother decides the situation in England has grown too unstable. After spending a night at his mother's office in the U.S. embassy, he is flown to Burma.

His mother feels it is safer to send him to their family's teak plantation in the jungles of Burma. Nick gets there and he is excited to learn about the elephants that help to run the operations of the plantation. After only a matter of days of arriving at the plantation, the Japanese soldiers invade and take his father and a worker prisoner. All the other workers are forced to work as servants for the Japanese. After the hope of being released is destroyed, Nick and his friend Mya plan their escape. They want to rescue their families from the prison camps. It will be extremely hard and dangerous for them. The Japanese, the wilderness, and the long distances stand in their way. It is a really good book and I could hardly put it down.
5 stars

-kkuhar

Dead Girls Don't Write Letters

Dead Girls Don't Write Letters
144 pages

Sunny Reynolds' older sister Jazz died when her apartment building lit on fire.  Sunny's family is broken by her death.  So when months later, Sunny receives a letter from her sister, she is more than a little surprised.  The thing is, the person who shows up at their door isn't her sister and Sunny has to find out who this person is and what she wants with her family.

my own summary

Dead Girls Don't Write Letters by Gail Giles was a really surprising book.  Its a quick read, I read it one afternoon after school.  The author builds up all of the clues until you think you know who the girl is and what will happen at the end and then surprises you.  I really liked the ending and it was totally unexpected.  I would definitely recommend reading this book.
Rating: 4 stars

Tell us what you think, comment!

-mnm1309

Mariah Mundi and The Midas Box

Mariah Mundi and The Midas Box
369 pages

"Fresh out of school, Mariah faces a new chapter of his life living in the Prince Regent Hotel.  His job is to assist the the magician in the stage shows held for the guests.

Above ground, the hotel offers every form of luxury.  Below ground, withing the slimy dripping walls of the basement, the magic show equipment is kept-and lurking in an Egyptian sarcophagus is the secret that draws Mariah into the path of villainy and possible death."

Summary from Mariah Mundi and The Midas Box (faber and faber: 2008 edition)

This is the first book in the Mariah Mundi series by G.P Taylor.  It had a lot of unexpected developments.  There were a lot of things that you thought wouldn't happen.  The book is set in England, a lot of it happens at night, making the place seem dark and gloomy.  I liked the way the author wrote the book and there was a lot of action but sometimes the book dragged.  The ending was really good but a little bit confusing.  Overall it was a pretty good book 
Rating: 3 stars

Tell us what you think, comment !

-mnm1309
p.s. I decided to use summaries from the back of the book because it is faster and they are probably better than the summaries I was writing. :)

New book rating system

I decided that I should use a rating system to kind of help you decide whether or not the books I post about are worth reading.  So I came up with this:
5 stars - worth buying it
4 stars - really good
3 stars - its worth reading
2 stars - okay, but not really that great
1 star - don't read it unless you can't get anything else
0 stars - I am begging you not to read this

Hopefully I'll never have to post about  a 0 star book ...
Anyways, I hope this helps, I am trying to post about as many books as I can, but I am really busy.  I'm making it my goal to post about at least 1 book every week.  If you want to want to find a specific book, look at the book list page.  It has all the books we have posted about.  Also if you have any suggestions for books, please leave a comment :)

-mnm2107

The Book Thief

The Book Thief is a historical fiction book by Markus Zusak.  The book is set in WW2 Germany, in the town of Molching.  Liesel Meminger is sent to live with Rosa and Hans Hubermann when her mother can no longer afford to support her.  While living on Himmel street, she learns not only to read, but about the power of words.  She learns to love and to hate them.  In the end the words are what save her life.  It is narrated by Death.   One thing that I really liked about the book was the way the author described things.  These descriptions opened a new way of seeing what was happening through Liesel's eyes.  It is a really sad book but parts of it are really funny.  It is definitely one of my favorites and I would recommend it to anyone.    Rating: 5 stars


Tell us what you think, comment !


-mnm2107