One For The Murphys

A moving  novel about a foster child learning to open her heart to a family’s love.




Carley uses humor and street smarts to keep her emotional walls high and thick. But the day she becomes a foster child, and moves in with the Murphys, she’s blindsided. This loving, bustling family shows Carley the stable family life she never thought existed, and she feels like an alien in their cookie-cutter-perfect household. Despite her resistance, the Murphys eventually show her what it feels like to belong–until her mother wants her back and Carley has to decide where and how to live. She’s not really a Murphy, but the gifts they’ve given her have opened up a new future.


This was a great book I think it is a must read!

Witch and Wizard by James Patterson.

Imagine being awoken by ginormous guards in the middle of the night, and being accused of being a magical human. Brother and sister, Whit and Whisty, are being dragged by the New Order guards to their prison but why Whit and Whisty? The One Who Is The One has accused Whit and Whisty of being a witch and. The siblings are shoved into the N.O. prison where they discover The One Who Is The One may be right.  Find out the rest in the book Witch and Wizard by James Patterson.

The popularity papers

Julie and Lydia are best friends even though themselves and their families are totally different. Julie and Lydia are observing the popular girls so they can become popular! It starts off as Julie and Lydia being best friends forever! They have observed that the popular girls have totally awesome cell-phones! So Julie and Lydia start begging for cell-phones. Julie and Lydia decide to run away so their parents will buy them totally awesome cell phones. They didn't think it would harm anyone. When Julie and Lydia got home from "running away" their parents thought something went terribly wrong...... After the cell phone incident Julie and Lydia went to Buck's Valley for a school trip. When Julie and Lydia went to Buck's Valley something went terribly wrong. After the incident at Buck's Valley, something happens to Julie and Lydia's friendship. Will they be mad at each other forever? Or will they make up and become friends again? Find out what happens next when you read the book The Popularity Papers.

One Day and One Amazing Mourning on Orange street

This book was about an orange tree. This tree is on a street called orange street named after all the orange groves that have long disappeared except for this last tree. But this tree is on an empty lot which gives you more questions to ask and answer. Who used to live in that lot? Why was it empty? What is burried in the ground under the lot. Lots of mysterious things are indeed burried under that lot with secrets and stories and questions. 


For instance an old doll's head... Who would bury just a doll's head? What happened to the rest of the body? And there's a glass jar with a mysterious note inside. What does the note mean? What about a old stone. Is it a wishing stone? Someone on Orange Street sure thinks so. 


Who are the kids who live on orange street? The empty lot is used as a special meeting place by the kids on orange street. Each one loves the orange tree and each of them has a special wish and worry. Ali and Edger: Ali wishes that her sick little brother edger who loves to swing from the orange tree will laugh again. Robert: Lonely Robert wishes for someone to ask him what is in his old shoe box. Nobody ever does and he hopes that a magic orange from the tree will help to make him more popular. Leandra: Grumpy Leandra wishes she could be less grumpy when her new baby sister comes and hopes something in the orange tree can help. Bunny: Superstious Bunny wears her Dad's wrist watch to make sure to be on time to watch her mother's plane fly by. She climbs up the orange tree and waves at the plane to make sure her mom is safe. Ms. Snoops: Ms. Snoops watches every thing from her window through her benoculars. 


One day 2 things happen on Orange street. The kids wake up to find a plastic orange cone sitting in front of the empty lot. What does it mean? What's going to happen? They notice that a mysterious stranger is lurking around the empty lot drawing things in his notebook. What is he doing? Everybody wonders. All of the questions are awensered on that one amazing mourning, all of the mysteries are solved and like the juice in the orange everything becomes connected through the magic of friendship and community and love and hope. I hope you enjoy reading this novel as much as I did.

The pull of gravity

Nick's family is falling apart. His mom and dad fight all the time and are on the verge of a break. So then his "big fat dad" takes off on some crazy quest to walk all the way to New York. Even worse is his best friend Scoot is dying from a weird disease. Then one weird girl and her impossible plan to fulfill Scoot's dying wish might turn every thing back around. On their journey they are guided by the wisdom of wise Yoda, and the knowledge of the famous author Steinbeck and his book Of Mice And Men. They set out to fulfill Scooter's dying wish which will become the journey of their lives. But along the way they might learn a bit too much that they needed to know about themselves and others.


I thought this book was completely awesome and everyone should read it. It makes the heart ache and the mind stretch. This book is so cool!

Nightmare Academy

Remember when you were a kid and your mom always told you there were no monsters under your bed even if you insisted that there were monsters. Well she lied... When a boy named Charlie sleeps the monsters wake up. Read this awesome book and help Charlie fight the monsters that come through when the lights go out. Read Nightmare Academy and you will be up all night. One night I read this book till 2:00 am. This book will change your dreams.

Juniper Berry

Once there was a girl named Juniper Berry. Before she didn't much care about balloons or anything, but not anymore. You see there is a place where you can have all your wishes come true. Sounds like Disneyland right? Well, her friend Giles and her went there and it is not. It is a scary place like everything else in Juniper's life. Nothing is what it seems anymore. Her parents are the most famous people in the world loved by millions, especially Juniper and they look perfect but they aren't. It seems like they haven't been themselves in forever and it got even worse when they moved into their luxurious mansion. They are moody, unkind, and down right awful. All Juniper wishes is that she could make them all a family again, and they would love her like they used to. It is the only reason she is going back down under the scary tree again.


I present to you the book Juniper Berry.

"Be careful what you wish for."

Inside out and back again by Thanhha Lai

Ha loves everything about where she lives. She loves her tree, the market, and school. Until one day, it feels like the world has turned inside out. She has to leave Vietnam, the place she loves and all her things. Ha and everyone else in her town cram into the boat.  It takes them to Guam. From there they just wait for an American sponsor to take them out of the city of tents. "Our sponsor looks just like an American should" Ha says, because he had a cowboy hat and cowboy boots. But now Ha feels like she would rather be in her war zone country than in peaceful Atlanta. Read more about Ha and her ups and downs in America in Inside Out and Back Again.

WINTERLING by Sarah Prineas

The moon was full the night Jessica ran away. She was tired of being cooped up in her house like a bird. But she was not the only one in the woods that night. She discovered three wolves ganging up on a little black shaggy dog. She saved the dog because three against one is not fair. Turns out this was no dog, it was a boy and in return for saving his life he showed her a portal to another world. She came from that other place and now she is going back. From Sara Prineas, the award winning author of The Magic Thief series, comes an adventure that is out of this world. 

Wonder by R. J. Palacio

Hi. I am August and I am a normal kid, well at least I feel normal. I have an X-box, I like Starwars, and I ride my bike. Things like that make me a normal every day kid. But I know ordinary kids do not get that one glance and look down look that I get. I mean you get used to it but it just makes me realize how un normal I am on the outside. If I could change anything about myself I would change my face. I want to be able to walk down the street without the stairs and the mothers covering their kids eyes. Sometimes you just can not blend in when you were born to stand out.

Planet middle school

I am exactly like Joy, the main character in the book.
1. We both enjoy sports
2. We both have girly names that we do not like.
3.We both are friends with boys at our schools.
Joy has that try hard and be tough attitude that reminds me a lot of myself. Which made me read this book even faster. This book was kind of seeing what was going to happen when I go to middle school. The ups and the downs.


Another cool thing about this book is that every few pages is told in a poem and once you start getting in to the book all the poems merge together and you do not realize that you are reading poems.



 

PIE by Sarah Weeks

Have you ever loved someone so much that when they are gone you would pay $1,000,000,000 just to spend one more day with them? That is exactly what happened to Alice. She loved her Aunt so much. She went every Saturday to Aunt's PIE shop to help her bake. Alice had neither the skill nor love of making pies that her aunt did but she just went to be with her aunt. Once her aunt is gone a mystery starts to come in to play and Alice and her good friend Charlie go on the hunt to unravel the secret to the pie crust recipe.

But did her aunt Polly really leave them with nothing but a old cat?

Chocolate cream pie Alice's dad's favoriete pie.

Peach pie Alice's favorite pie

The One And Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

You might call him the Freeway Gorilla, the Ape At Exit 8, or you may call him by the name of The One And only Ivan, The Mighty Silverback. But Ivan's life is not as glamorous and flashy as it looks on the billboard, because he has been here as long as he can remember. He is alone except for his friends Stella, the elephant, and Bob, the wild dog. A Silverback should lead his family. But here he has no one to lead. Until one day a flicker of hope arrives in a small package.


Read the wonderful story of friendship, hope, and art.

The story book Ivan

The Real Ivan

Bigger Than a Bread Box

Before things changed, Rebecca's life was normal for an eleven year old girl. She lived in Baltimore where there were seagulls, her best friend Mary Kate, and her beloved father. Until one day, her parents get into a fight worse than normal. Infuriated, her mother packs up Rebecca and her little brother and takes them away to their Gran's house. After a day or so Rebecca realizes this "trip" to Gran's house may be a bit longer than she expected. When Rebecca realizes this she becomes outraged and tries hiding in her Gran's attic until they can go home. While hiding in the attic, Rebecca realizes there may be something extraordinary about this one bread box in her Gran's attic. When she wishes she had brought a book with her, she looks inside the bread box and discovers a book. Hmmm, something smells fishy.... When she discovers this weirdness of the bread box she sneaks it into her room for further inspection. Lying in bed awake from home  sickness, Rebecca wishes for a seagull to cheer her up... and just as if it were magic one appears in the bread box. Wait a second, when you make a wish from a  genie isn't there always a consequence? Is making a wish from a bread box any different? Could it be good luck or bad luck?


Bigger Than a Bread Box by Laurel Snyder

Fun Fact: Laurel Snyder wrote Penny Dreadful.

The Apothicary by Maile Meloy

An American girl named Janie moves to London in 1954 with her parents because they are black listed. She meets a boy whose father possesses a powerful book full of ancient spells and curses such as the spell that can turn you in to a bird. This book might be just what her and the boy need to save the world.

Martin Luther King Jr.

The power and determination in Martin Luther King Jr. is an inspiration itself. Martin Luther King knew what he wanted and he wasn't going to give up until his dream came true. Sometimes when you are getting ready for a chess match or a soccer game and you feel worried, think about Dr. King and his determination to get to his goal. Even though he is no longer with us, he still lives in the fight and determination in all of us. Long live Martin Luther King Jr.


"I have a dream that one day black childeren and white childeren will hold hands and play together"
- Martin Luther King Jr.

First, next, then, after that, finally: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

First: You meet Katniss, a 14 year old girl who is chosen to join the Hunger Games and fight to the death on live TV.


Next: She and Peeta Malark travel on a train to the capital where they get ready for The Hunger Games.


Then: The Hunger Games Begin and Katniss survives the first day. Then she also meets Rue and they have an alliance.


After That: Rue gets attacked and killed, Katniss is all on her own and is looking for Peeta.


Finally: Katniss and Peeta nearly lose the  The Hunger Games and by a close call, they end up winning and head home. 

Robust sentences from The Apothecary

1. They had story retreats in Santa Barbra and the other writers' kids and I would run through the avocado fields, playing elaborate games of tag and kick the can.

2. On the way home I practiced walking like Katharine Hepburn striding along with my shoulders back.

3. I wore trousers whenever I could and my favorite ones where bright green sailor pants, with four big buttons and flared legs.

4.When I looked over my shoulders and saw nothing but the ordinary traffic on Highland Avenue, I hugged my books rounded my shoulders and walked home like an ordinary fourteen year old girl.

5. The school secretary, whose tight gray curls reminded me of a sheep gave me my class schedule.

Liesl and Po

Liesl's life was boring, she lived locked up in a tiny attic bedroom because her stepmother says the world is to dangerous for her. Lisel wishes the sun would shine again in her gray dull world. She also wishes that she could escape the attic. Shadows creep on her walls. The shadows are also her only friends at all. She never had a chance to say good bye to her father who passed away. Liesl needs to get her dad's ashes to the  Willow tree. She knows she needs to get him there and there is no time for her to spare. But how will Liesl escape the attic? She needs to lay her father there so he can finally rest. Until Liesl can find a way out she spends time drawing. She draws amazing things like a train with wings. Looking back with no concern Liesl finally leaves the attic with no care. On her journey enemys are every where. How do you know who to trust? There is still so much to learn.... 

Reading Liesl and Po

This is me reading one of my favorite parts from the book Liesl and Po.

Breadcrumbs book trailer

This is the book trailer I made for Breadcrumbs. I hope you like it!

Avairy by Kathleen O'Dell

Clara Dooley has lived in the Glendoveer mansion her whole life. She has actually never left the Glendover mansion her whole life either..... Her mother the maid and Ruby the cook work for an elderly lady called Mrs.Glendoveer, who was married to a famous magician. As Clara gets older she starts to find secrets in the Glendoveer mansion. Now Clara must solve an age old mystery of the missing Glendoveer children and break the spell. Maybe things will end  happily ever after for Clara. Or will they be surprisingly dreadful? Kathleen O'Dell makes a creative mystery that involves birds, friendship, betrayal, and what a normal man will do for money.

Page by Paige

Once upon a time, there was Paige Turner. She just moved to New York with her writer parents (hence her name). But she really misses her old town in Virginia where all her friends are. She has trouble getting use to New York and she starts trying to have a new identity and start over in her new city. She starts to become more of an artist. She meets some new friends who help her. Her art starts to become more of a reality and it helps the community. But still with all the good things, its hard for Paige. For any one who lives in their art this book would be perfect for you.