Peace, Love, and Baby Ducks

☮♥♥☮

       Peace, Love, and Baby Ducks by Lauren Myracle is a great book with themes like "sisterly love,"growing up, jealousy, crushes, and friendship.  Carly, the main character, is starting her second year of high school at a super religious Christian school, while her younger sister, Anna, is becoming a freshman there.  Cute little Anna suddenly grew big boobs over the summer, and she is getting lots of attention from boys, jealousy from girls, and even unfair treatment from their poopyhead of a gym teacher, Mr. Schranker (or, as they call him, the Wanker).
       Carly, who tries to not be just like everyone else and cave in to the social norms, finds a great new friend while watching some of her old friends change drasticly, thinks about who God really is, and even starts to crush on a boy named Cole, who -hmm... isn't exactly all he's cracked up to be.
         Then, the climax of the story happens when Carly's parents go out of town, and Carly invites a few friends over, who invite a few more friends over... and you can guess what happens next.  It's totally cliche, but what happens is kind of different than in all the other teen books/movies.
     I just love this book, and just it makes me want to read more and more of it.  In fact, I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did.  By the way, I'm sorry if my review makes it sound like all the other books out there, but it's definitely not.   Peace, Love, and Baby Ducks  is unique and totally worth reading, and I rate it 4.5 out of 5 stars!


                                                                        ✭Rosalind ✭

Woah!

Woah! Not even 3 months in and we have over 4,000 pageviews! Thanks to all the viewers! Great work writers! Woah!

Annabeth

What to Read?

I have not finished a book that no one has posted about yet lately. Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry! I just finished reading The Boy on Cinnamon St, which Rosalind already blogged about. Right now I'm reading Treasure Island. Since I'm only something like 30 pages in, I'm not sure if I like it or not. I'm hoping to get my hands on the second Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants book, but if I can't get it, what should I read next?

-Annabeth

New Background?

Ok people. Listen up. We now have a vote for: Should we have a new background? Anyone and everyone can and should vote! We want as many votes as possible! The new background would still be books, but it would probably be a bookshelf. I was thinking it might fit this a bit better. Kinda sorta maybe. So what do you think? Tell anyone and everyone you know!

Annabeth

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

 

 This book is really good. If you haven't read it already, then you should. There are 4 main characters, who are all girls almost 16. They are Lena, Tibby, Bridget, and Carmen. Lena is the pretty one, Tibby is the "regularish" one with the nose ring, Bridget is the amazing soccer star, and Carmen is the half Puerto Rican one. They have known each other since before they were born. Their moms took an aerobics class together, and they were all born either 19 or 17 days apart. I can't remember. I'm sorry.

They usually spend all of their summers all together, but that summer they were all in different places. Tibby is the only one staying home, which she does not like. She gets grumpy the day before people start leaving, and for some reason asks for a pair of pants that Carmen got at a second-hand store. Carmen had never even bothered to try them on, so (of course) she was not attached to them. Then everyone tries them on and the pants miraculously fit them all! They then call them the Pants and have 10 rules that you have to follow. One of my favorites is #5 - You must not pick your nose while wearing the Pants. You may, however, scratch casually at your nostril while really kind of picking. They each have 2 turns in the summer to have them wherever they are.

Bridget, also known as Bee, etc. is my favorite of the four girls. Her mom died, and she has a twin brother, who you don't hear much of. She goes to an extreme all-girls soccer camp in Baja California for the whole summer. She has bright blond hair, and is probably the best soccer player in all of her camp, even though she is one of the youngest girls there. Then there is a coach at the camp who apparently is very attractive. Bridget flirts with him a bunch, even though there is a "no flirting" rule at camp and he is 21. She's not even 15! WTF!? He tries not to flirt back but it's kind of hard for him, especially when he's half asleep or has had several alcoholic drinks.

Carmen is half Puerto Rican. Her parents are split, and she lives with her mom. She doesn't know much about her dad's personal life, and when she goes to visit him in South Carolina to spend the summer doing fun things with him, she has an unpleasant surprise. Then she gets grumpy and everything is very dramatic.

Lena is part Greek. She has a younger sister who is 14, named Effie (I know, like Effie Trinket), and they go to visit their grandparents in Greece for the summer. Her grandma tries to set her up with a guy named Kostos, who Lena just thinks is kind of... whatever. But then she goes skinny dipping and overreacts when something happens that I don't want to give away. Except I probably did give it away.

Tibby has to stay at home all summer, while her friends go to amazing places without her. She has a part-time job at a drugstore and is really bored. Then a girl who looks about 10 falls into a deodorant display and then they get to know each other well. The girl is 12 and her name is Bailey. She has leukemia (cancer of the blood) and kind of worships Tibby for some reason. Then they make a documentary together and not much happens except then something happens of course you know what it is.

I would rate this book 5 out of 5 stars. It's really good and I would recommend it to all girls 11-...I dunno, 16 or 17 years old? Also there are several more books and I can't wait to read them. And there's a movie that I can't wait to watch. K that's all.

-Annabeth

The Secret Identity Of Devon Delaney

       I would say that instead of reading  The Secret Identity Of Devon Delaney, by Lauren Barnholdt, you should pick up a copy of it, and scan the back cover. It's not like you'd get any more out of reading the actual pages.  Basically, a 13-year-old girl named Devon goes to her grandma's house for the summer and meets a girl named Lexi, and they become really good summer friends.  Devon tells Lexi that back home, she is super popular and dating this hot, popular guy named Jared, who Devon has actually crushed on forever.  Lexi believes her because, why shouldn't she?
         But then -surprise surprise- Lexi moves to Devon's town and they suddenly are in the same school.  For some dumb reason, Devon goes along with her popular-girl lie and pretends that Jared is her boyfriend, even though Jared barely even knows her name. Basically, that's what happens throughout the whole entire book, and Devon's friend Melissa starts feeling really left out because Lexi's now in the picture.  To add to the drama, Devon realizes that she is falling for a boy, and he isn't Jared.
            My favorite character in this book is Katie, Devon's wacky five-year-old sister, who wants to be in the Olympics when she grows up.  It's kind of weird though, because Katie talks like she's about thirteen at least, and I think the author might have forgotten what a five-year-old has for vocabulary. Or maybe she's doing it on purpose.  Anyway, it's kind of cute, and Katie's an interesting character.
      Even though this book is predictable from start to finish, with no new concepts, if you're feeling kind of brain-dead at the moment and want an entertaining book, disregard the first two sentences of this post, and try it out.  I would rate this book 3 out of 5 stars, and if you'll excuse me, I'm off to devour my new issue of Girls' Life!

                                                                ♻ Rosalind ♻

The Potato Chip Puzzles

     If you like puzzles, fun adventure books, and mysteries, this book is for you! The Potato Chip Puzzles, by Eric Berlin, is in a series I really like called The Puzzling World Of Winston Breen (The first book in this series is called The Puzzling World Of Winston Breen, and it's just as good as this one, maybe better.  Also I heard that there's a third coming out this year, called The Puzzler's Mansion!)
     
       Okay, so this fun-filled book starts off with a twelve or thirteen year-old boy named Winston Breen who loves doing puzzles and is really good at them too.  One day, his school's principal receives a slip of paper with seemingly random letters and numbers on it in his mailbox, and so calls Winston to the office to help him with this little mystery.  One deciphered, the message is a phone number.  Winston and his principal call it, and soon become part of a statewide (at least) puzzle hunt at a potato chip factory, owned by Simon's Snack Foods.  And... bump bum bum... the winner gets fifty thousand dollars for their school!
     
       Winston, along with his two best friends and a mean-ish advanced math teacher, set off on a puzzle hunt against lots of other schools.  But someone is determined to win.  And by determined to win, I mean willing to cheat in the contest by giving their competition flat tires and moving important signs.  Who could the cheater be?

   I think the best part of this book is the fact that every time Winston gets a puzzle to solve, whether it be on the back of the granola bar box or in the puzzling competition, the reader gets to solve it too!  The puzzles, from word squares to cool math problems to riddles, are just perfect for a twelve-year-old to solve, and have a lot of fun doing it!

        I rate this awesome book five out of five stars, and I think that anyone from nine to sixteen would enjoy it, boys and girls.  Happy reading!

                                                             ✻  Rosalind  ✻

Here's to You, Rachel Robinson

This book is pretty good. It's the sequel to Just as Long as We're Together, which I read a while ago, which is also good, and I suggest you read that first. As you can see, the author is Judy Blume. Both of these books are about a girl who, (obviously),  is named Rachel Robinson. She is super tall, super smart, and an overachiever. She has a friend named Stephanie, and in Just as Long as We're Together, meets a friend named Alison. But I'm talking about Here's to You, Rachel Robinson, so back to the point. Rachel has an older sister named Jessica, and an older brother named Charles. He gets in a lot of trouble, and was expelled from his boarding school. So he came back home, where he got all the attention, especially negative. Charles also gets on Rachel's nerves by calling her "Child Prodigy" and "Baby Sister". A bunch of stuff happens and it's a good book to read. I would recommend it to anyone... 12 or older. Out of 5 I rate it a 4.3.

Annabeth

A Spell For Chameleon

A few days ago, I finished an action-packed fantasy book my grampa gave me called A Spell For Chameleon, by Piers Anthony.  A book unlike most I have been reading recently, it starts off with the main character, a 25-year-old man named Bink, in the North Village of Xanth, where he lives.  Everyone in Xanth is born with a unique magical talent that only they can do.  For example, Bink's financee Sabrina has the talent of making holographs in  the air, and the village bullies have talents like creating poison gas and making mirage-holes.  Unfortunately, poor Bink is the only one born without a talent. Or so he thinks.

And so Bink sets off on a journey to the Good Magician Humfrey's castle to determine if he has a hidden talent.  Along the way, he meets a centaur named Cherie, attends a hearing, fights a dragon, meets a sorceress of illusion, and saves the life of a wounded soldier.

After Bink meets the Good Magician, I thought the story would end, but boy, was I wrong.  I can't tell you much more of what happens without giving important parts of the book away, but I can tell you that Bink meets the Evil Magician Trent and finds out something about him he never would have guessed, discovers a secret connecting three girls he met on his quest, fights battles and magical plants, and most importantly, realizes a very important thing about himself.

Since this book is about a 25-year old, I would say that you should be at least twelve to read it and also to really enjoy it.  I think this is great novel, and although I felt like giving up on it once or twice because it was so long and the print so small, it is a book definitely worth reading.  I would give A Spell For Chameleon 4.7 out of 5 stars.  Oh, and by the way, if you like this book, there are ten more in this series to read and enjoy!

♥☮☺ Rosalind ♥☮☺

     

School of Fear

Okay, so this is my first post y'all!!!! So I read this book "School of Fear" (que dramatic music).  So it's bout these 4 kiddos,  Madeline (Maddie),  Garrison , Lulu and Theo.  They all have different severe phobias like afraid of bugs,water,small spaces and death.  It's sort of boring and has a really bad ending.  Ok it might sound like I hated it but I guess it's okay light reading.  Some of the characters are really annoying, but lulu is AWESOME!!! Okay she's not too awesome actually but the only one I could stand.  So I guess, read it on a rainy day when you have nothing to read(I found it when I had left my regular book at home and I needed something to read at school for a few days.) I rate it a 2.5 out of 5
                                                -KATNISS!!! :D😳