Max

__Everlost__

Book Review By: Max Moehle The book __Everlost__ by Neal Shusterman is a science fiction story about two children who die in a horrible car accident. On their way to heaven, they bump into each other and their path to heaven is sent astray. They find themselves waking up in Everlost, the central world of the afterlife, which is only accessible by children. The book is all about the inevitable, no matter what transpires or whatever you try to do to stop it, what’s destined to happen will happen. I give this book five out of five stars, and recommend it to everyone. I was entirely consumed with fascination when I read this book. I thought the plot line was pure genius. It’s all about two kids that both die, and who end up in a world called Everlost. They run into one another in the hallway towards the light. The book tells about Nick and Allie’s adventures in Everlost and their crusade against the McGill, the only monster of Everlost. It was entirely too easy to keep focused on this book. The first time I picked it up, I lost track of time and all of a sudden it was twelve forty-five AM and I was on page 147 out of 313. Everlost is basically just another world layered over the regular Earth, except for the fact that you may only interact with the other dead, and that you sink into the ground if you stand in one place too long. In Everlost, there are certain areas called death spots, these are spots on the Earth where someone died, or where something important that was there is now gone. These places feel solid under your feet. For example, in Everlost the twin towers are still there and feel solid to the touch, unlike other buildings and parts of the ground. In this world, your appearance is changeable; it always stays exactly how you remember yourself. For example, let’s say you remember that you had a larger head than normal, if you don’t remember exactly how oversized it was, you may end up with a head the size of three watermelons. Everlost is only for dead children who acted a certain way in life that they did not deserve Hell, but were still not ready for Heaven. They live out their afterlives in Everlost until proven ready. I think that if the author did not imagine this perfect setting, the book would not have any purpose or even be slightly as good as it is now. I think the setting ads a huge amount of excitement to the book. The whole message of this book is about the inevitable. Never try to stop what is supposed to happen, because destiny entirely controls life and what happens within it. The whole conflict of this book is that the evil McGill is raiding Everlost, looking for souls to collect and complete his self-proclaimed purpose in this world. Luckily, Nick and Allie set out to stop him and… well it’s a story, did you really think they wouldn’t succeed? The characters completely changed throughout the story. Their life changing adventures completely turned around Nick and Allies outlooks and attitudes about life over all. The book always kept me intrigued, and the chapters always ended at the perfect time. The author chose such suspenseful parts in the story to split chapters that he might as well of stopped half way through sentences, maybe even words! The dialogue was always casual too, it was never formal or in complete sentences, like most other authors like to write. For instance, “Yes, it was very…” was more like just, “Yeah.” which was perfectly written. Once again, I believe this is //__**THE**__// best book I have ever read. The plot was ingenious, the world Everlost was created flawlessly, and every chapter left you wanting more. I recommend this book to absolutely every single person on the face of the entire planet, no matter what age or favorite type of story. I really hope that you get to read it someday. (OR put it in one of the future reading lists. *Hint!) Thank you for reading my book review of __Everlost__.

__The Red Kayak__

Book Review By: Max Moehle The book __The Red Kayak__ by Priscilla Cummings is a realistic fiction novel about a boy named Brady and his friends J.T. and Digger, who live in Baltimore. Once a new family moves in next door, their lives change forever. After the Diangelo’s kayak sinks, killing their toddler Ben, Brady begins to figure out that it might not have been an accident. I believe the message of this book is to always do the right thing, and to think before you act. You must make sure it truly is the correct thing to do, and not just what you would like to do. I give this book four out of five stars, and also recommend it to everyone, but also send a warning that you should only read it if you are looking for a very sad story.  I did enjoy reading this book after all. I feel the beginning of this book was a little dry, but it really started to pick up in the second quarter. The plot line was ingenuous, it was great how the author kept hidden the ‘big secret’. When I read that it might have been Digger who sunk the kayak, I was extremely surprised and just had to continue reading. It was very easy to read this book for long periods of time, as if I were lost in its pages and nothing else mattered in the world besides the lives of these four families.  This book takes place in Baltimore, Maryland. I feel that with out this setting, or at least a setting 80% similar to it, this book would not only have had no plot, but also would have been impossibly boring to read! Without the story taking place here, there would have been no kayak, no crabbing, and Brady would not have had an Orioles hat to put on Ben’s head to keep him warm. If the author wouldn’t have put in the book that they lived in Maryland, or said Brady’s family lived any where but this state, I would not have understood this book at all. I would have to ask myself questions like, “Why do the Diangelos have a kayak, and how can Brady’s dad go crabbing behind the house if they live in Nebraska?” Or, “ Why does Brady have an Orioles cap if he’s from Atlanta, Georgia?” I believe the setting completely pulled everything together in the story.  The entire message of this book is doing the right thing, and thinking about the possible consequences and affects of your actions. For example, when Digger and J.T. drilled holes in the kayak, they did not think about the possibility that Ben and his mother could have been in the craft instead of Mr. Diangelo. The conflict of this book is that Ben died when the red kayak sunk, and that Brady suspects that it might have been Digger and J.T. that caused the incident. After finding his dad’s electric drill hidden in the reeds, Brady goes to his friend J.T. concerning the incident, who confirms his suspicions. After discussing the issue with J.T., Brady goes to confront Digger, who decides to act more defensive and stubborn. This incident most certainly changed the lives of all involved. Brady, from then on, had to deal with crushing guilt, because of the fact that it was his idea to sink the kayak in the first place. J.T. and Digger were forced to spend a minimum of nine months in a correctional facility. Even worse yet, the Diangelo’s had to live the rest of their lives with the sadness of losing their first born child. This book almost always had me interested and not wondering how many pages were left. The only period where the book did not hold my interest, was within the first quarter of the novel. All of the chapters always ended with perfect cliff hangers. For example, the chapter where the last sentence read, “I told him everything.” I had already finished my goal of reading for that day, but I found myself having to keep reading on. The dialogue was amusing, partly because the author used bad grammar from time to time to express the thoughts of less intelligent characters.  This novel is definitely in my top five book list. The characters were created flawlessly, the plot was incredible, and the book was almost impossible to put down. I recommend this book to anybody looking for a great novel as long as they’re capable of reading about sad events without breaking down. I’d like to thank you for putting this novel into the summer reading list, otherwise I probably never would have gotten the chance to read it. Thank you for reading my book review of __The Red Kayak.__



 __ 12 Angry Men __  Book Revue By: Max Moehle

 The book __12 Angry Men__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> by Reginald Rose is a play about twelve jurors who get locked into a room to talk about the case at hand. The twelve must discuss the fact that either a young boy killed his father and ran from the scene of the crime. In the beginning, all but one believe that this boy is completely guilty, and that the evidence is incriminating, but as the story continues the one begins to discredit the facts, and prove the boy innocent. I believe the moral of this story is to never judge a book by its cover. No matter what something seems, or how obvious it seems, you can never be one hundred percent sure something is true without even giving it a second thought. I would give this four out of five stars, but would only recommend it to people older than ten, because there is some language. I was always intrigued by this book, I could never stop reading it, and it was almost impossible to put down. I loved the plot, I was always amazed at the ways the writer thought of debunking the testimonies of the witnesses. I couldn’t help but just sit there mouth agate at the perfectly interwoven conversations that continually tipped off the one juror bent on proving the boys innocence. It was so easy to read this book for long periods of time, I felt as if nothing else existed, and I was in that room fighting to protect my opinion. This whole story takes place in this one small room, with no air conditioning, fans, or opening windows. Without this setting would have made zero sense. It obviously needs to take place in the jury room, other wise they probably wouldn’t be discussing the case previously gone over in the courtroom. It also adds to the story because of the excess heat. The extreme hotness of the room brings up a ton of things, many of the jurors complain about it at least once. It also to attention one more way for the eighth juror to prove some evidence wrong. Towards the end the fan is also fixed, just because the men realize it was connected to the light switch, this also adds about two pages of dialogue about their relief. Therefore not having the same room would take away a lot from the story. The setting definitely helped tie the story together. The whole message of this story is to never just assume things, and go with the obvious way that they seem. To never just believe something unless you’ve examined the facts, and truly thought about it. Never just jump to conclusions, or decide something because it’s what everybody else is doing. Which also brings me to the other moral of the story, to never just go along with the group, because if you don’t you might end up discovering something that makes more sense, or maybe even rewrite the future. The conflict of this story is that all of the jurors think that the boy is guilty, but the eighth juror knows better. Throughout the story, person by person, fact by fact, the eighth juror proves things wrong, and converts other men to his side. Eventually he works it down to one man, but he is a real hard head, but luckily he gives in at the last minute, and the boy is decided innocent. This book always had kept my attention, and never had me asking to be finished. It was always intriguing, and never stopped the action, it didn’t have chapters however, so it couldn’t use cliff hangers. Every single time I had read enough to do the amount of reading logs necessary, but just had to read more because the book was so interesting. I found the dialogue extremely realistic, and terrifically well written, I guess it had to be, since the whole book was <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">//only// <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> dialogue. This book was definitely in my top five book list, only after <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">__Everlost__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">__The Red Kayak__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, the other two book reviews I have written. The characters were flawless, the plot was ingenuous, the book was impossible to put down, and it was incredibly well written. I’d recommend this book to absolutely anybody, as long as their parents would allow them to read something with scattered mild language. I thank you for putting this book on the list, otherwise I wouldn’t have read it. Thank you for reading my book review of <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">__12 Angry Men__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18pt; font-style: normal; margin: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">__**A Child Called “It”**__ <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; margin: 0px; white-space: normal;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Book Review By: Max Moehle Rating: Link: []Picture:

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; margin: 0px; white-space: normal;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The book <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">__A Child Called “It”__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> by David Pelzer is a book about a young boy, David, and his family, consisting of his three brothers and his parents. His mother has selected him as the slave of the family, beats him, starves him, and tortures him daily. The book constantly discusses his hardships with his mother, and how he would teach himself to stay alive. He taught himself how to beat his mother, by doing anything from wasting enough time for someone to come home to see what was happening, to even stealing food from his class mates, the local grocery store, or even tricking the neighbors into giving him meals. I believe the book wasn’t really created to have a moral, but instead to give David closure, and to tell the world his story, but if I had to give it one, I would say is that no matter how tough or hopeless things may same, it’s always worth living, and there is always a way to survive. No matter how weak, helpless, small, or young you are compared to your issue, enemy, or obstacle, you can always make it through, you can always fight through, and you will always make it out alive if you try your hardest and stay sharp. If i had to I would give this book a four out of five stars, this is because it wasn’t the best book I ever read, but was still very good. I would only recommend it to people 13 or over, because there is strong language, and words that you may not find suitable for children. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> This book had never a dull moment and I always found myself wanting to read on, even if I had finished my quota for the day. The plot was ingenious, I was constantly surprised and amazed by the new, and sometimes scientific, ways that David’s mother discovered and invented to torture her child. I was always dumbfounded by all of the perfectly horrible ways that David was hurt, whether it being a chemical reaction of death, a night long cold bath, endless skating, or having to eat different types of bodily waste, I was constantly intrigued and wanting more. It was all too easy to read this book for long periods of time, it was as if I was in David’s home, being tortured and starved myself. This story mainly takes place in or around David’s awful, unsuitable, and I quote “hell house”, but would occasionally cut to his school or the park. This story just wouldn’t be right without the setting it has. First of all if David’s mother would have tortured him anywhere else, besides the privacy of her own home, she would have been arrested with in the first couple of pages. If it didn’t take place partly at the school, an entire chunk of the story would be missing, or at least not make sense. There would be no section of the story all about David stealing food, he stole at school, from the grocery store during school, and from the neighbors by tricking them before school. Without the school, also, David would have spent a lot more time at his mother’s house, at which he would be tortured more often, changing up the story. All in all, and more simply said, the setting really helped tie the story together. I took the message of this story as, you can do anything as long as you don’t give up. It states that as long as you don’t give up, you can live through anything. It states the no matter what is attacking, or hurting, or opposing you, you can always live through it if you stay sharp, don’t give up, and do your best. There’s also another moral, that is that no matter what is happening to you, there’s always smart, simple, helpful ways to delay, or maybe even completely stop your obstacle. The conflict of this story is that David is constantly abused, tortured, and starved by his mother, and can do nothing about it. In this book, the conflict is never completely resolved, but David does find small ways to delay and defer his mother’s methods of pain. This book was always interesting, and always kept me there. I never found myself checking the amount of pages left till the end of the book, or until my quota was done. Every single time I was done with my reading logs, I always wanted to read more. The dialogue was very realistic in this book, the cursing that occurred relatively often really helped make it seems real. <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; margin: 0px; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> This book was certainly in my top five favorite books, probably about tied for third with <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">__Twelve Angry Men__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. The characters were perfect, the plot was intriguing, it was impossible to put the book down, and it was written very well. I would recommend this book to any body, as long as they were approved old enough for disturbing images and constant harsh language by an elder person. Thank you for reading my book review of <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">__A Child Called “It”.__   <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 24pt; font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> __**I am the Cheese**__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Book Review by: Max M.

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt; white-space: normal;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The book <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">__I am the Cheese__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> by Robert Cormier is a book about Nathan Farmer who rides his bike all the way from Monument, Massachusetts to Ruttersburg, Vermont. The whole way he carries a special package for his father. This mystery novel is a constant build up until the huge secret is revealed in the end. I think this book tells an amazing story, that always keeps you interested. The plot did not really read as if somebody was trying to force feed you a story. It really was believable, and I really felt as if I could trust it as a true story and really soak in the events. It was extremely easy to stay concentrated on this story for long periods of time. My mind never wandered while reading this book, I was never thinking about anything else while reading this book. I was constantly completely engrossed in the plot line and the plight of this boy. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> This story takes place in Monument, Massachusetts, Ruttersburg, Vermont, and the route Nathan takes in between. The setting really helps make the story exciting. One of the things that I was really impressed with was the main sections that describe his ride to Ruttersburg in detail. Everything he came across constantly had me interested, especially when he ran into the ferocious German Shepard. The setting really adds to the story, I see his troublesome and obstacle-filled route almost as a type of symbolism, the path he took really represented that he was dedicated to his mission, to get to his father. The main problem or conflict was that Nathan had to get to Ruttersburg to see his father and give him his package. This book really taught me about, and really instilled the message of, if you really set out to do something, you can accomplish it, just by believing in yourself. I really think the author accomplished what he set out to do. I believe he was trying to teach his readers the importance of the previously stated moral, and if I am corrected, he did a really good job, at least on me. The characters in this book were flawlessly created by Robert Cormier, they all fit together really nicely, and interacted like normal humans would. The main character, Nathan, really changes towards the end, he finally gets a really good grip on who he is and a good sense of identity. In the end he even thinks to himself how he now knows who he is, and he says, “I am the Cheese”. I can not identify with any of the characters, I fail to really see myself in any of them. There were a lot of surprises in the story that kept me interested, especially the one at the very end, which I won’t go into detail about in case someone who reads this hasn’t read the book, because giving away the ending would be mean. All of the chapters ended with perfect cliff hangers, I would always finish a chapter and want more. The dialogue is written excellently, one of the main things I look for in dialogue is incomplete sentences. A lot of standard writing has reinstated answers and other forms of speech that are just not normal for human interaction. This book had a perfect balance of believeable dialogue, with enough detail that you could follow it. I really did like this book in the end, and would recommend it to anyone looking for an exciting mystery story. I would rate it three point five out of five stars, simply because i save five for my favourite book, and four for close seconds. I didn’t love this book, but it was still a good read.