REVIEW: The Man Who Walked Between the Towers

All summer we’ll be featuring book reviews from kids like you! Every kid who submits a review will get their review published on the Together Book Club blog AND win a free book! Sound good? Great! Click here to get started!

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This review has been brought to you by our incredible friend OWEN, a 3rd-grader from Riverhead!

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers

by Mordicai Gerstein

Genre: Non-fiction

Rating: AMAZING: Stop everything that you’re doing and read this book RIGHT NOW!

I read The Man That Walked Between the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein. Phillipe Petit is a tight rope walker. He looked at the Twin Towers and said to himself, I think I’m going to walk between the Twin Towers. he was told he couldn’t do it but he did it anyway.

I liked that he walked between the Towers because no one could do that except Nick Walenda who walked across Niagra Falls. I liked that he kneeled down on the wire. I liked that he could lay down on the wire. He’s awesome because no one could do that. He can do stunts!

I would recommend this to my friends because I think they would like it. They would like that he could do anything that nobody else could do. I would tell everybody that he is a real man. Everybody would like this book.

Have you read this book? Do you plan to? Share your thoughts in the comments!

NEH Announces New Children’s Booklist for Summer!

The National Endowment for the Humanities has announced a new NEH summer reading book list for children in kindergarten through 8th grade!

This year’s list is the biggest overhaul for their summer booklist in over the two decades since NEH first compiled it. Along with the American Library Association, NEH staff members reconsidered the entire list from 1988, aiming to make a list that offered reading inspiration for a lifetime, and not just the doggone days of summer.

The resulting book list has been updated with 90 (yes, nine-zero) new titles, ranging from classic to contemporary, from science-fiction to adventure, and even includes Together Book Club picks The Wednesday Wars and Hatchet!

For more information about the list and ideas for reading, click here.

What do you think of the list? Let us know in the comments below!

REVIEW: Dad, Jackie, and Me

All summer we’ll be featuring book reviews from kids like you! Every kid who submits a review will get their review published on the Together Book Club blog AND win a free book! Sound good? Great! Click here to get started!

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This review has been brought to you by our super awesome  friend RYKEN, a 3rd-grader from Riverhead!

Dad, Jackie, and Me

by Myron Uhlberg

Genre: Picture Book

Rating: GOOD: Put this book on your summer reading list!

This book is about a deaf father and a kid who really likes baseball. His father does’t really like baseball, but one day he comes home early and his dad has tickets to a baseball game. They really want to meet Jackie Robinson.

My favorite part of the book was the ending, but I don’t want to tell you.

My opinion of the book is that it was good. I would recommend it to my friends that like baseball. Some people don’t like baseball and don’t like to read so they may not like it.

Have you read this book? Do you plan to? Share your thoughts in the comments!

REVIEW: The Gingerbread Boy

All summer we’ll be featuring book reviews from kids like you! Every kid who submits a review will get their review published on the Together Book Club blog AND win a free book! Sound good? Great! Click here to get started!

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This review has been brought to you by our terrific friend SARAH, a 3rd-grader from Walden!

The Gingerbread Boy

by Jan Bret

Genre: Picture Book

Rating: AMAZING: Stop everything that you’re doing and read this book RIGHT NOW!

This book is about an old man, an old woman, the ginger bread man, a pig, a cow,and the fox all in a big chase to eat the ginger bread man. The ginger bread man is fooled by the fox after making it half way across the lake. The old lady took such pride in making the ginger bread boy and now he turns around and wants nothing to do with her. This is a great detailed book that EVERYONE should read.

Have you read this book? Do you plan to? Share your thoughts in the comments!

The BookUp Selections are Here!

The National Book Foundation has released the first ever Best of BookUp Selections, a summer reading list from their own BookUp Students! The participating students across New York City and Texas were asked to vote for their top two favorite books during the 2011-2012 school year. Winners include both classics such as Of Mice and Men as well as more recent novels like The Hunger Games (a popular pick from numerous sites). University Settlement students then ranked the winners and rated them in five different categories. Find the list here for more summer reading inspiration!

Some of the winners:

REVIEW: Waiting for Normal

All summer we’ll be featuring book reviews from kids like you! Every kid who submits a review will get their review published on the Together Book Club blog AND win a free book! Sound good? Great! Click here to get started!

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This review has been brought to you by our really amazing friend MARIYA, an 8th-grader from Patchogue!

Waiting for Normal

by Leslie Connor

Genre: Chapter Book

Rating: AMAZING: Stop everything that you’re doing and read this book RIGHT NOW!

The novel, Waiting for Normal, was written by Leslie Connor. It was about a girl named Addie who just wanted a normal happy family, but ever since her mother had gotten a divorce with her step dad, Dwight her and her mother had to live in a trailer. She had been separated from her family. In her new neighborhood,she made new friends. The main characters of this novel were Addie, Mommers, Dwight, and Saula.

Some things I liked about this novel was that it made the readers feel like they could have related to this and that the characters had such unique personalities. I didn’t like the way Mommers acted to Addie because she was rude, lazy, mean, and wasn’t fair to her. My favorite part was when Addie went to visit Dwight, Hannah, and the Littles for Christmas. Some quotes I liked that were in the novel were “All or Nothing” and “All to Home”. I thought the main character was cute and funny.

I enjoyed reading this book. I would recommend this book to a friend because it was interesting and fun to read. It has a variety of interesting and different characters. This book did not remind me of any other books I had read.

Have you read this book? Do you plan to? Share your thoughts in the comments!

REVIEW: When I Was Puerto Rican

All summer we’ll be featuring book reviews from kids like you! Every kid who submits a review will get their review published on the Together Book Club blog AND win a free book! Sound good? Great! Click here to get started!

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This review has been brought to you by our coolest friend, AFRA, an 8th-grader from Patchogue!

When I Was Puerto Rican

by Esmeralda Santiago

Genre: Chapter Book

Rating: AMAZING: Stop everything that you’re doing and read this book RIGHT NOW!

The book, “When I Was Puerto Rican” is written by Esmeralda Santiago. I wanted to read this book because it was based on a true story about the authors life. All of the problems that she faced were faced by many other people. This book is about Esmeralda. She moved form Puerto Rico to New York. Along the journey she faced many hardships.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I liked that the book was about the author. My favorite part of the book was the ending. SPOILER ALERT! Esmeralda really wanted to get out of her neighborhood in New York and in the end, she did. My favorite quote from this book is, “For me, the person I was becoming when we left was erased, and another one was created.” This is a very meaningful quote. I liked the main character. She had a good personality and in many ways was easy to relate to.

I would definitely recommend this book to a friend because it was fun to read. Yes, I do think that some people would not like this book. They might think that it is boring. This book reminds me of the book  Bodega Dreams by Ernesto Quinonez.

Have you read this book? Do you plan to? Share your thoughts in the comments!

REVIEW: Grace for President

All summer we’ll be featuring book reviews from kids like you! Every kid who submits a review will get their review published on the Together Book Club blog AND win a free book! Sound good? Great! Click here to get started!

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This review has been brought to you by our super-terrific friend MADELYN, a 4th-grader from Oneonta!

Grace for President

by Kelly DiPucchio

Genre: Picture Book, Adventure, Comedy (funny)

Rating: GOOD: Put this book on your summer reading list!

The book I chose from the Explore New York Reading List was Grace For President. It is by Kelly Dippuchio and illustrated by Leuyen Pham. The main character, Grace, goes to Woodrow Wilson Elementary. Grace sees a poster that there was never a girl president, so that is what Grace is trying to do. She plans on getting it by having a class vote for president.

Thomas Cobb and Grace Campbell were going to compete against each other for class president. Thomas was from the other class, so that means that the other class was getting involved. Grace made a campaign that says: “Make History! Vote Grace Campbell for President.” Thomas made one up to : “Vote for Thomas Cobb. The best MAN for the job.” Grace said speeches at recess, handed out free cupcxakes and even had rallies. Thomas wasn’t worried. He did his usual and practiced spelling words, did science experiments and played soccer. It was election day and people were saying who their electoral votes go to.

SPOILER ALERT! I liked this book because I think it’s cool when the last guy gives his votes to Grace. I hope you can read this book.

Have you read this book? Do you plan to? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Fab Five Books

Here are my top five reads:

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

The Underland Chronicles by Suzanne Collins

Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

The Narnia Chronicles by C.S. Lewis

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Enjoy!

The end?

What did you think about the ending? Were you satisfied? Do you plan to read the rest of the trilogy?