When You Reach Me

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

Reviewed by Tilly 10yrs. old - Tween Book Reviewer and Sometimes Writer

Book-bag pocket-shoe. These are the words of the laughing man. What can they mean?

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead is a story about Miranda, who is in Yr 6 and best friend with Sal, the boy from her building. At least they were friends until the weird kid at school punched Sal for no reason. Now Sal won’t talk to Miranda and she doesn’t know why.

Then something strange happens. Miranda starts getting letters. She doesn’t know who is sending them. In this mystery, Miranda must figure out who is sending her letters, because it’s getting kind of creepy. In the first letter the writer claims her friend is in danger and he needs to save them.

Most of this story is in first person, from Miranda’s point of view. One unusual thing Rebecca Stead did with this novel was to also include the second person point of view. Second person is when a story uses ‘you’ as a pronoun. It feels like Miranda is speaking to you when you’re reading.

The characters in this story felt real. Sometimes they did things wrong and made mistakes but they were trying their best and this made me care about the characters. One of of my favourite characters was the laughing man, an old homeless guy who does strange things every day like murmuring ‘book-bag pocket-shoe’ or even practices kicking in the air. He also sleeps with his head under the mailbox. Miranda is another character I love because she tries really hard at things but sometimes they still don’t come out the way she wants. It makes me feel like she’s a normal person.

When You Reach Me is set in New York City. New York City is very populated which makes it a dangerous city for Miranda to just roam around. But by the end of the book I liked the city Miranda lived in, because I really got to know Miranda’s part of town.

I recommend this book for girls, no matter what age. It's a story about relationships and puzzles. I like solving mysteries and you can try and solve Miranda’s mystery before she does.

Can Miranda learn to trust a stranger enough to help save her friend or are there some things that cannot be changed? Read to find out!
Out of 5 paper dolls, I give it:

M~Malice

Malice by Chris Wooding

Reviewed by Milly, 12yrs. old - Teen Book Reviewer and Sometimes Baker

Here is an old favourite i decided to re-blog!

Malice by Chris Wooding, is a horrifying book about a world that exsits inside a scary comic book. To get there you have to do the ritual and call on 'Tall Jake'. Two kids called Kady and Seth do not believe these rumours about this strange land until their friend goes missing.

This is the scariest book I have ever read, especially the first chapter when a boy performs the ritual, the lights go out and you just know 'Tall Jake' is coming. Even though I had nightmares about it, my friends are still fighting over who will read it next.

What I like most about this book is it is a great book for kids that don't like to read much and for the classroom. Even though it looks like a thick book it is half comic/half novel and both boys and girls will enjoy it.

The other really cool thing about this book is it has a 3D front cover. It looks like Tall Jake is coming out of the book to get you!

You'd think I wouldn't want to read any other scary books after having nightmares after readingMalice, but no, I can't wait to read another scary book!

I rate this book out of five:

iI am putting this recipe back up for those who loved it and for those who haven't seen them before I call them 'Uglies':

For this recipe you just use your favourite chocolate cupcake recipe (or you can use a packet mix) and add pink and white mini-marshmellows and white chocolate chips. Top with chocolate icing. They don't look very pretty, but boy do they taste good!

Kasper Prince of Cats

Kasper Prince of Cats written by Michael Morpugo

Reviewed by Tilly 9yrs. old - Tween Book Reviewer and Sometimes Writer

I reposted this review, because I had no other book for K!

I got Kaspar Prince of Cats from Santa for Christmas. It's about a boy called Johnny Trott. Johnny meets Countess Kanasky and her Cat Kaspar. The Countess treats Johnny like his dream Mother. But one day the Countess dies and the Stanton's came to collect the Countess' stuff. That's when Johnny meets Lizziebeth fromAmerica and saves her life, then they become friends. The Stantons and Johnny go to America on the Titanic, the fastest and the biggest ship in the world. The story covers Johnny's friendship with Kaspar from the first time he met the cat to the trip on the Titanic. I liked Kaspar Prince of Cats a little. I liked Kaspar the character, but I found the story a bit slow. I rate this Book out of 5...

Today I have a cat Paper Doll.Hope you enjoy!

J~Jasper Jones

Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey

Reviewed by Milly 14 yrs. old - Book Reviewer and Sometimes Baker

Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey is about a Charlie who is startled in the middle of the night by rebel, Jasper Jones.

Charlie is a smart boy, but he doesn't have many friends, so when Jasper comes to his house he is surprised that he knows Charlie's name, let alone where he lives. Jasper takes him out of town and he starts to worry this is a bad idea. It's too late to leave now, Charlie doesn't know his way back. They go through a clearing and Charlie is horrified to see a girl from his class hanging from a rope, cold dead! He is even more shocked to see it is... Ha! You really think i'd tell who the girl is? I guess you will just have to read the book. It takes Jasper to point out the surroundings for him to realise it isn't a suicide. It was Murder!

This scary murder mystery is a brilliant story but it is a little bit to crude for my taste. If you can overlook the constant bad language and rude bits, you'd enjoy it.

I rate it out of 5 paper dolls:

L~Looking Glass Wars

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor

Reviewed by Milly 13 yrs. old - Book Reviewer and Sometimes Baker

I have decided to go back in time and ether remind you or show you for the first time an exiting read. Enjoy!

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor is a book about a girl named Alice, who lives in Wonderland (Oh! I almost forgot, she isn't any ordinary girl, she's a princess!). But on her 7th birthday her aunt, Red, attacked the Queendom! In all the massacre, Red killed Alice's mum & dad and tried to kill Alice!

Luckily the Hatter got her safely to the pool of tears. She had been wishing for an adventure for her birthday, she certainly got what she wished for as she jumped into the pool of tears and came out to a whole new place called London. Meanwhile the Hatter was in a place called Paris. Not knowing were Alice was he searched the whole country for her and would search the hole world for her if he had to so she can fulfil her destiny and kill Red!

There are more problems - Alice is adopted and is told that what she says about Wonderland is nonsense, she finally believed her new family and forgot all about her aunt & Wonderland. Now she is 20 and going tho marry a prince! Will she remember who she is in time to go back and save Wonderland?

Sound slightly familiar? This story is like a reversal of Alice in Wonderland. But there are many differences - it's much darker. This excellent book is a book that was chosen by the book club I go to so I do have to thank them because otherwise I would have never read it!

This is a wonderful book and I give it out of 5 paper dolls :

This is a great book but a warning to my followers that are a bit squeamish this book has a lot of gore and is NOT a little kids book.