Kids Books - Teaching

Warning! This review contains spoilers (not that it matters because there's absolutely no suspense in this book whatsoever). There's this little girl named Heidi, and both of her parents died when she was a baby. So went to go live with her aunt and her grandmother (on her mom's side). But then her grandmother dies. So, her aunt sends her to live with her grandfather (on her dad's side). Her grandfather lives in the mountains, and everyone who lives near him says he's really mean. But Heidi's aunt doesn't care and sends her to live with him anyway. Heidi then makes friends with a boy named Peter and his grandmother. After Heidi has lived with her grandfather for a few years, her aunt comes back. Then she basically takes her to live with some random rich people, so there daughter will have a companion. What I thought of it: This book was extremely boring. Heidi was an extremely irritating character. She basically prances around bringing joy and sunshine to everyone she comes in contact with for no apparent reason. It's like everyone loves her and no one knows why. Then, eventually, in addition to going around bringing joy to everyone, she starts going around and preaching to everyone. She's probably no more than 10 years old, and suddenly (after one talk with a girl's grandmamma) she knows everything about God. It's absolutely ridiculous. Also, she just magically learns how to read in two seconds. One minute she's completely illiterate, and the next, she's the world's best reader. What up with that? Not to mention the fact that she's a total jerk. Once some of her new friends come to visit her, she starts completely (and pretty much without a reason), ignoring her friend Peter. This causes Peter to become VERY angry. I mean some of his reactions were a bit extreme, but he definitely had a right to be mad. And Heidi just continues to prance around as if nothing has happened. I mean she never even addresses the fact that he's angry. Ever. But there was one thing that REALLY bothered me about this situation. When Heidi wanted Peter to do something, and he refused, she had the nerve to threaten him! And he listened! I really couldn't believe it. But for now, I'm going to take break from talking about Heidi, and talk about the other characters. Heidi's grandfather was completely inconsistent character. He was said to have been really mean, but he's never portrayed doing anything mean. As soon as Heidi shows up he pretty much welcomes her with open arms. Then when she leaves, he says he never wants to see her again. But then she comes back again, he's perfectly happy to see her. People are always saying how terrible he is, but we never see him do anything terrible. I mean the writer meant to write him as one of those "Don't judge a book by it's cover" character, but did a really bad job. I also didn't like the fact that Heidi's friend Klara just came to the mountains and magically got better. I mean the girl couldn't walk her entire life, and then she comes to the mountains and has the ability to walk by the end of the summer. Yet another unrealistic thing that happened in this book to add to the list. I could go on forever picking out the flaws in this book, but I think I'm going to go ahead and wrap this review up. I can't help but feel that this entire book was just completely dedicated to making Heidi seem like she was a perfect little angel, when in reality, she was a total brat. I mean they never addressed any of her flaws. But instead, they tried (and failed) to completely cover them all up. The morals of the story seemed to be: Trust in God and he will fix all your problems (which isn't a bad thing, but they could have portrayed that in a way that wasn't completely preachy. I mean they pretty much had the same conversation over and over with different people.), The mountains are a magical place and if you go there all your health issues will magically disappear, and Heidi is the best thing since sliced bread. You should love her with all her heart even though she doesn't really have any really good character traits. Overall, it was a very boring and preachy book, and I have no idea why this is a classic. On second thought, it being boring and preachy is probably the very reason it's a classic.

Just finished this book! So, this book is about how a girl named Gilly is put into a foster home, because her mom is trying to find a job. Gilly gets placed with the 'religous' Maime Trotter, William Ernest {W.E.}, and the African American; Mr. Randolph who is blind, and at first she was not happy about it. Then Gilly steals some money and decides to run away to California because her mom lives there, but unfortunately she gets caught. She ends up still staying at Trotter's house, until her grandmother who she never knew about shows up suddenly one day.

"Stay gold..." I read this when I was younger, but I never really understood it... due to the fact I read this book when I was in third grade, and I was too young to realize what it actually meant... I read this book earlier again during the summer... and wow... this book is really heartwarming... the book's setting is around the late 1960's and it starts off with the Socs short for Socials and the Greasers who are usually proud of their long mane while they grease it back... Meet Ponyboy Curtis, the protagonist of the story, yes... his name is actually Ponyboy and yes, you can check his birth certificate... and his two brothers' names are Darry who's twenty years old who support the gang and was a quarterback in his high school and his second oldest brother Sodapop, who is loved by the girls, is in a relationship with Sandy, and is a high school drop out, but works in an auto shop... (Don't you love how Ponyboy and Sodapop are very original names??? :D) Ponyboy's parents passed away in an auto accident, and they lived together with the gang ever since... Two-Bit is the oldest who is sarcastic, funny, but wise... then there's Steve who Ponyboys thinks that Steve does not like him and is Sodapop's best friend, also there's Dally who is the wildest, reckless of them all and has a soft spot for Johnny, and Johnny (the pet's gang)... he came from a rough background, getting bit by his father while his mother did not care... and Ponyboy and his brothers all make up this gang... or group... They are like brothers and they got each others back yo... I think some of their slang... kind of make me talk in slang...lol...but WARNING: There is slang in the book...it's not really that bad... to be honest... you can either tell what they are trying to say... because it's obvious or CONTEXT CLUES....Now back to the story there is another set of group called the Socs and they wear madras (kind of like plaid clothing) and ride Mustangs... they're more... I guess upper class than the Greasers... but the reason why they have this huge feud, because the Greasers thing the Socs are "living the life" while the Socs think the Greasers are having the dream life... which causes their resent towards each other... So one day Ponyboy, Johnny, and Dally end up going to a drive-in movie theater... and guess who's next to them???? I hoped you guess right... but two girls... who were Socs were next to them... Of course Dally being Dally... he was a jerk to them... and end up leaving the theater earlier... Cherry(because of her hair color...it's red) and Marcia (the Socs) end up talking to Ponyboy and Johnny.... Later on Two-Bit comes along and charms the girls.... but Ponyboy and Cherry had this huge discussion...they realize that the Greasers have emotions while Socs just fake their emotions... to the point they don't feel anything... but even though they "live in different worlds" they still watch the same sunset... which is the beginning of their friendship... One day... Bob (Cherry's boyfriend) and his friends jump on Ponyboy and Johnny (Johnny has this huge fear from the Socs because they once jumped on him... to the point Johnny could've been dead), where they try to drown Ponyboy, and the quiet, shy Johnny strikes back and stabs Bob, which causes the other Socs to run away and Ponyboy saved...but Johnny's action causes Ponyboy and Johnny to run away with the help of Dally, while the police is looking out for the murderer... So now what's going on(if you read it, you'll know the ending)???? Through this adventure you'll laugh, cry, smile, and feel different emotions.... because all of these events that happened are something we can all relate to.... This is what I really enjoyed from the author; you could feel the pure and raw emotions from this short story.... and that's what makes the whole story to be a memorable story we cannot forget. It's surprising even though this story was writhed around the 1960's, this author lived it, and we still have problems like this in this world... no lie... So I hope you read this sentimental, suspenseful adventure.... READ!!!!!

This book is one of teh worst books I have ever read, and I dont know why it was writen in the first place the dialog is dull and the reading level is far bellow what I would call middle school. The only reason a high school student would read this is the subject matter being to much for younger children.

Ho Hum.... What do we have here? The BFG by Roald Dahl is a classic for a reason. So, let's start shall we? I really loved this book. The characters are full of love and are just AMAZING. But.... there is still something going on here. Even though the story was amazing and such, I felt a tad-bit of randomness. Because of that it knocked off one star. Still four stars, nothing to worry about. Now, now , now.... let's talk about the main characters- The BFG and Sophie. Their friendship is adorable. I felt that this was a message to love someone in the inside not the outside. I know what you're thinking, just spill it out...... awwwwww❤️ Anyway, to wrap this whole thing up, The BFG by Roald Dahl is just plain AWESOME! And hey, 4 stars is not that bad.

Ok I am in 5th grade and I love this book its sooo good you guys should read it. also its talks about being kind and don't back talk others!

I thought this book was good but not usually the type of book I would read. It has good storytelling but doesn't have a lot of action scenes. When I was reading it I felt bored sometimes because nothing excited was happening in that part. I liked this book because it always had questions running wild in my head. It is a book about a girl named Opal that just moved to a new town with her father. She feels very alone because she has no friends and her father is spending to much time on his job and not enough on her. Then she encounters a dog named Winn-Dixie and he changes her life. One of the things I most disliked about this book is I felt it took too long to get the climax and that the climax was really the only part with a lot of action and was exciting. The book itself is more intriguing than excited. One of the things I liked most about the book was how it always made me guess if something were to happen next or what was happing with a character that made him/her the way they are. I also liked how they kept teasing the return of a certain character and the result of the tease. All things considered, I would say the good thing outweighs the bad and it wasn't perfect so I think a 4-star rating if fair.

This book is about a girl Malala, she lives in Pakistan. In Pakistan girls arent allowed to get an education, but Malala wasnt going to just stand by and not get smart(er) She spoke up and fought by going to school. One day, she climbed onto her school bus and was driving home when all of a sudden Tailban (a terrorist organisation) cme and stopped the bus with big guns and climbed on. They said "Who is Malala?" Her friends looked at her, which obviously gave it away. She got shot in the head and few suspected her to survive. She was only 15 when this happened and when she did survive and a year later, she was the most inspiring girl in the world (thats what i think anyways, you may have a different opinion.) This is an AMAZING story and I hope everyone gets this and feels the same way I do.

This book is set in World War ll and is about a young German boy by the name of Bruno. Bruno is forced to leave his home in Berlin for reasons no one will tell him. Bruno is very mad and upset about living somewhere completely different. He decides that he will try to make the best out of this situation. He comes across a boy on the other side of the fence whos name is Shmuel. Bruno doesn't exactly know why Shmuel is on a different side and why he can't come to Bruno's side. John Boyne does an amazing job capturing and displaying the emotions throughout the book. I give this book 5 stars because of the amazing and captivating writing.

This was an sad yet interesting book. It gave a great message that under different colored skin, we are all the same. At some parts, I almost cried and at other parts, and was very happy. I don't want to give away to much, but here's a little summary. A white boy named Philip gets stranded on an island with a black man named Timothy. Philip has learned to stay away from black people, but Timothy is quite different. They go through extraordinary things together and grow fond of each other. I would recommend this book to 4-6 graders and to people who like adventure and historical fiction. I personally loved this book.