Maniac Magee

Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli

Review by Nathan:

Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli is about a boy named Jeffery Lionel Magee whose parents died in a trolley accident in Bridgeport PA and was sent to live with his aunt and uncle in Hollidaysburg PA.  He soon runs away and travels over two hundred miles to Two Mills (across the Schuylkill River from Bridgeport.)  He becomes friends with some blacks (he is white) breaking the dividing line between blacks and whites in Two Mills.  There are some who don't like this and he hopes to untie Cobble's Knot to gain complete acceptance.  Will he succeed? 

This book is extremely funny which I liked.  It had its share of tense moments between whites and blacks but nothing bad happened.  This book had a theme of equality.   I would recommend this book to most people over the age of ten especially if they were studying racial segregation in history.

Review by Grace:

Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli is a hilarious story. Maniac Magee wants a home where he would be loved, but he is an orphan.  So he ran, not really settling down. Then Maniac Magee found out that

home was where he was loved and wanted. The message of this book is that blacks and whites can live together. I like how funny this book was. We were begging our mom to read more.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

             

The Journey Back

   

                                                        
Review by Nathan:
The Journey Back   by Johanna Reiss is a sequel to the Upstairs Room.  The main character Annie leaves the family she hid with during World War II and goes back to her family.  Her birth mom got sick and died during the war and now her dad is seeing someone.  He eventually marries Magda Vos  who is not very pleased with Annie.  Rachel, one of Annie's sisters, becomes a Christian which causes some family strife. Rachel moves away and contracts Tuberculous.  Sini, Annie's other sister, becomes a nurse and gets right back into social life.  Annie misses the Oostervelds (who she stayed with during the war.) It is not a very happy time for Annie and she must learn to cope with the changes.

This book gives good detail about locations so you can easily (for me anyway) picture where places are.  This book shows how hard it was after the war.  Something I noticed a lot in the book was how they lived with few conveniences.

Review by Grace:   
The Journey Back  is the sequel to The Upstairs Room by Johanna Reiss. The war is complete, but everything is changed. Annie and Sini go home and it's hard to say goodbye to the Oostervelds who bravely hid them. Annie's sister Rachel is now a Christian! Then father gets a new wife that Annie can not please. These add to their struggles. A lot of books are about during wars and not a lot are about after the wars. This book is written to show that though the fighting was over, new challenges were at hand. Throughout this book I caught glimpses of after-war life. The Upstairs Room and The Journey  Back are written in short choppy sentences and thoughts because they're from Annie's perspective.

Parents: This book also contains a few choice words that I skipped over as I read it aloud. Skipping this part of the vernacular did not interfere with the flow or meaning of the story.

Locked in the Attic

                                           

Review by Nathan:

In this book Locked in the Attic (published in 1959),  Paul Hutchens tells another exciting story about the Sugar Creek Gang.  The "Gang" is really just a group of Christians boys who like to hang out together and be adventurous.
In this story, they are going to rebury a dog, that rescued one of the members in book 33, to save the corpse from flash flooding.  They end up taking cover from the rain in an old house where they get trapped in the attic.  They have to find a way to out-smart a criminal and not get hurt.  Will a posse arrives in time to back them up?
I have read most of the books in this series and have enjoyed them all.  They share a theme of faith and this one had a theme of bravery too.  I like the excitement and the handy stuff they carry in their pockets.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis.

Review by:Grace

The four Pevensies: Peter, Susan, Edmond and Lucy are visiting a professor in the country, when they explore the house Lucy finds an old wardrobe and when she steps inside, she finds herself in a snowy wood. Later Edmond, then Peter and Susan also get into Narnia. In Narnia they visit lots of creatures and make a lot of friends. I think you need a good imagination to enjoy Narnia the most.  The Chronicles of Narnia are some of my favorite books.  My mom has read them to me and I've repeatedly listened to the audio dramas, but this is the first time I've read the series for myself. 

The Upstairs Room

Review by Nathan:

The upstairs room by Johanna Reiss is about two sisters who are Jewish and hide from the Nazis in Holland.  Annie and Sini stay at one house for a little while then move to a farm house.  In the second house the Nazis make offices downstairs while Annie and Sini hide upstairs.  The sisters have to deal with the danger and not get too fed up with each other. Annie is developing Muscle Atrophy and she will not do any exercises. 

I like how they are brave, most of the time.  This book gives lots of details which I like.  The farmers they stayed with were often funny.  I think the author wrote this book to inform and to make you think what it would be like if it was you were hiding from the Nazis.

Review by Grace:

The Upstairs Room by Johanna Reiss is about a Jewish family in Holland. Two of the three sisters have to hide in an old farmhouse from the German soldiers that would send them to concentration camps. I think this book helps us learn the various ways Jews suffered during the war. Though this book taught me a few things, I would not care to read it again.     

Note to Parents:  Preview this book before allowing a child to read it independently.  This was a read aloud for us and I skipped over a few choice words used in dialogue.  The themes of the Jews and WWII were handled sensitively in this book.