Goddess Bootcamp

The Bookworm Says....YES!!!!! Goddess Bootcamp by Tera Lynn Childs was a great book. It is a sequel to Oh My Gods, and they were both excellent. Phoebe Castro is enjoying her summer, before she has to enter level 12. You see, Phoebe lives on a small Greek island of Serfopoula. Se is also the goddess Nikes great grand-daughter. All of the people on the island are part god, maybe not as closely related as Phoebe, but still related. She is beginning training in the morning with her dreamy boyfriend Griffin for the Pythian Games trials. The Pythian Games are like the Olympics, and she has to try out for the team. Phoebe also has troubles controlling her powers. Past incidents include: thinking about the ocean, and making it so her serious stepdad Damian was no longer in his office in a suit, but outside her door in a bathing suit. Damian gets a call from the gods saying she must take a test, and pass it or else... So he makes the only reasonable decision. Phoebe should be sent to Goddess Boot Camp. On the first day of camp, she is horrified when she steps inside. The room is full of 10 year olds. (Phoebe is 17) She thinks it can't get any worse, but then the counselors walk in. Adara Spencer, Griffins ex, and her enemy. Stella Petrolas, her evil stepsister. Then, a ragged, rebel boy named Xander. She struggles through camp, and suspects Griffin of cheating on her with Adara. One day, she is at home with Stella, and the doorbell rings. There is a note to Phoebe with a sequence that her friend identified as a call number for the library. She went to the library, and the book is in the secret collections. This book is about her dads trial at Mt. Olympus that got him killed. The librarian agrees to show her, but the book is missing. Later, Phoebe receives an email about the book, but when she goes to print it, it is blank. She goes to the schools computer geek, and asks him to find the sender. He is unable to, so she does what the email says. "Go to the courtyard at 12:00pm". She goes, and it is Damian. He gets her the book, but she chooses not to read it, afraid of what it says. A few days later at the Pythian Games, something strange happens. She is in third place, and confident because the top 3 get on the team. All of the sudden, a brunette girl shows up in front of her. No matter how hard she tries, she can't catch the lead. When her feet hit the finish line, she is heavily embraced. The brunette was an apparition. That was her test. She passed. And she made the Pythian Games team. This was a great day. I would recommend this book to almost anybody, but especially if you are interested in Greek history. But- I would advise reading Oh My Gods first.

The Graveyard Book

The Bookworm says......Maybe. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman was an okay book. I was reading it for a school assignment, and I'm not sure I would have just picked it up and read it. In The Graveyard Book, a little boy is sleeping, and a man called Jack went into his home and murdered his family. The little boy escaped, and crawled to the graveyard. Next, a ghost couple called The Owens, found him, and decided to protect him. They gave him the gift of the graveyard, and named him Nobody Owens, Bod for short. The reader realizes that this boy is the main character. One day a little girl named Scarlett is visiting the graveyard with her parents. She and Bod run off, and go down into a crypt. While down there, they are visited by The Indigo Man and The Sleer. They escape, but it was close. The next day, Bods guardian Silas leaves, and puts Bod in the care of Miss Lupescu. One night during Miss Lupescu’s stay, some ghouls snatched Bod up and took him to Ghulheim, the ghoul city. Miss Lupescu in the form of a grey dog saves him. When they got home, Bod went back down to visit The Sleer. He steals its brooch, and tries to sell it to an antique shop with the hopes of buying a ghost named Liza a headstone. The worker at the antique shop locks Bod in a back room. The worker calls The Man Jack that murdered Bods family but with the help of Liza the witch ghost, Bod escapes.

Bod gets home to the graveyard, everyone is acting strange. Not talking, just working and cleaning. Whenever he asks them a question or says hello, they sing a song that ends in “Lets all dance the Macabray”. Later on that night, they do just that. They had a great time, and Bod met some living children. This made him decide that he wanted to go to a real school, instead of being taught by Silas. So he does, and immediately sees bullying at its finest. He tries to stop it, and they target him. He outsmarts the bullies, and they vow not to bully again. Bod decides he has run his course at real school, after a run-in with the police. After a few years, there is exciting news. Scarlett has moved back from Scotland! She and Bod are at a local historian, Mr. Frost’s house having tea, and Bod goes to see a letter concerning his parent’s murder. Mr. Frost pulls out a knife, and tries to kill Bod. Mr. Frost is The Man Jack. He and his crew chase Bod and Scarlett back to the graveyard. This is the climax of the book. Scarlett hides with The Sleer, and Bod outsmarts The Man Jacks crew. They lure The Man Jack into the crypt, and resolve the conflict by tricking him into staying with The Sleer forever. All in all, it was a pretty good book. But,it was a little bit frightening, so I wouldn't recommend it for younger children.

Getting Air

The Bookworm says........ Maybe. Getting Air by Dan Gutman was a pretty good book. When Jimmy Zimmerman, his sister Julia, and his two friends Harry and David head off in a plane, they weren't expecting anything exciting. The plan was to go to Jimmy and Julia's cousins house in Newport Beach. Their uncle had promised to take tthe to the X Games which were being held in Los Angeles.  This was quite a big deal though, because all of the boys were big skateboarders, and they were hoping to maybe get some free t-shirts, or best case get sponsored! Did this happen? No. Not at all. All of the sudden during the flight, there was a scream. A thud. And a man with a mask. The scream was the stewardess, she had been stabbed. Also the cause  of the thud. Then, Arcadia, the flight attendant started to cry because she was friends with the stewardess. Then, another man stood up. He had a bomb strapped to his belt. When one of the little  old ladies on the plane said " I think the stewardess is dead!" the man said that she should shut up and sit down or she would be dead too! The plane starts to turn, and dip. They think hopefully that it is just turbulence, but in their head, they know there is a fight with two more hijackers in the cockpit. When one of the hijackers starts going at Arcadia with the pencil he used to stab the stewardess, Jimmy nails him over the  head wit his iron skateboard. He crumples to the ground. Then, all the old ladies went after the second guy wit their knitting needles. Boom. Two unconscious, two to go. They went over to the cockpit door which, surprise  surprise was locked, they grabbed the emergency key and when the door opened Arcadia threw a pot of boiled water a one of the hijackers and they attacked. Boom. All them down, but along with the pilots. They need to fly the plane to safety. The plane starts to run out of gas, and they try to land. The plane rips and skids across the forest floor. Wen Jimmy wakes up, he runs to see how bad it is. Te only survivors are Jimmy, Julia, David, Harry, Arcadia, and Mildred. Over the next few days, they find food, shelter (in the plane), make fire, and get clean grandma clothing. They are all getting incredibly bored though. Then, Jimmy had an idea to pull off the top of the plane and make it a half pipe. So they do. But before they get to try it a policeman came to get them. Finally!! They weren't lost anymore!! Found at last!!!! They go back to their parents, and have nice, lovey dovey reunions. Then the go on every talk show, newspaper, and kids are asking for autographs. They even get sponsored!!! Arcadia became spokesperson of the UN for the US. Julia got full scholarship to any college in the US though she wasn't even in high school! Mildred got commercials with all those products- wheelchairs, denchers, and laxatives. In the end, it was a somewhat happy ending. I would recommend  this book to anyone  that is interested in skateboarding, 9-11, planes, or just a good sports story. This wasn't my favorite because I don't particularly enjoy that type of spots book, but I guess if you like that kind of thing you would like this book!

The Bookworm's Tendency

Hey everyone, Bookworm here. I just wanted to say, that as you an probably see, I have a tendency to like or "Say YES" to almost all the books I read. If you disagree leave a comment, tell me! If you put it under anonymous I wont know who wrote it, and if you write it with your user name, I will know, and i wont be hurt or offended if you feel differently. So please, tell ME how YOU feel!

Divergent

The Bookworm says..........YES!!!!! Divergent by Veronica Roth was an AMAZING book!! To start, there are five factions. They are Erudite, Candor, Amity, Dauntless, and Abnegation. Each one has a virtue that they live by. Erudite the geniuses, Candor the honest, Abnegation the selfless, Amity the peaceful, and Dauntless the brave. But it mostly starts with a girl named Beatrice Prior and her brother Caleb. They live in the Abnegation section of future Chicago. Beatrice has just turned 16 and is having faction-transfer simulation tests. When she gets her results, they are extremely dangerous. She is Divergent. At the choosing ceremony, she lets her blood drop onto the Dauntless coals. She renames herself as Tris, and tries her best to become Dauntless. The initiation is very hard. You have to jump onto a train, then jump off it onto a building, then into a hole. All the while, there are two instructors the nice- Four, and the cruel, brutal, sick- Eric. Then there is brutal fighting, and more simulations. And the rankings. Ahhh the dreaded rankings. Will you do well? Will you not? Before she knows it, Tris finds herself above her competition, above Drew, Molly, Peter. Above her friends Christina, Al, Will. Above everyone. Little did she know, this was dangerous, almost as dangerous as being Divergent. There is an attack in the middle of the night, and Tris is saved by Four. After a few times visiting together, and after the initiation is over and the failers are faction-less, Tris and Four become Boyfriend and Girlfriend. Four discovers interesting information about the Erudite planning war against Abnegation. They even use the Dauntless as minions, after injecting them with a serum that will make all respond to the Erudite leader, and will not remember a thing when awoken. This affects everyone. Well, everyone but the Divergent. The few Divergent among them gather against the Erudite who had done this to them, and help take down the computer bank, and turn against them. This book was amazing, a great read that will have you calling out, and sitting on the edge of  your chair, and gripping the table. This book truly deserves its spot in the Barnes and Nobles top 10!

Hunger

The Bookworm says........YES! Hunger by Michael Grant was a G-REAT book! This was the second book in the Gone series by Michael Grant. The first book was previously reviewed on March 10, 2012. Things in the FAYZ are getting out of control. Kids are starving. There are even thoughts of cannibalism. Little Petey's powers are developing along with lots of people, such as Duck and Hunter. There are even new mutations arising from the water and fields such as the blue, swimming bats, or the zekes, the long black worm like creatures in the fields that eat the people that venture past the edge of the field. Albert devises a plan to make money. Sam is falling apart, and Astrid can't even keep him together.Lana even tries to overpower the Darkness. Will she succeed? Even worse another battle between Coates and Perdido Beach arises when the Coates kids try to take the power plant. Hunger is a great continuation of Gone, and is a great thriller.

Out Of The Dust

The bookworm says..........Yes! Out Of The Dust by Karen Hesse was indeed a great book. I wouldn't even think of reading this but I had an MCAS selection that was two poems from the book. Billie Jo wants nothing more in life than to get out of the dust. She lives in the dust bowl with her dad Bay, and her momma. Billie Jo has one special connection to her mama. They both play the piano. Real good. But one day there is an accident. Bay accidentally leaves a pail of kerosene near the stove. Ma mistakes it for coffee. That's where it all goes wrong. Ma gets burnt real bad. Billie Jo goes to throw the burning kerosene outside after her mama runs out, not knowing she is coming back in. The fire burns mama and the baby and they both die. Billie Jo tries to put the fire out and burns her hands. Now she cant even play the piano. Billie Jo struggles and just cant get out of the dust. When she does, she runs back for her father because she is so lonely. This book was great. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes poetry seeing as the whole book is poems.