The Competition Heats Up!

Yes, indeed, guys, we're in a hot game now! I've just received 3 reviews from three new friends. Dakota T, a reader guy at SMS Guys Read, our brother guy-book blog, is the first:

No More Dead Dogs is about a completely honest boy, named Wallice, who becomes a football star just by pouncing on the loose ball for the winning touchdown. But when his English teacher asks him to write a possitive report on the book Old Shep, My Pal, he doesn't, and he's sent to detension until he writes. This is bad news for the football team, after three loses, some players are getting angry. After a while, he actually begins to enjoy watching the actors reherse and begins to make suggestions that turn the play around. The longer he stays though, a mystery person starts ruining the play, and people begin to point fingers at Wallice. Soon after they find all the scripts shredded to pieces, wallice isn't allowed anyware near the play. Meanwhile, on the night of the play, the mystery person attaches a bomb to Old Shep and Wallice is the only one who knows about it! Will it be too late to save the play?

This is a great read for all mystery lovers. Yet, it does include some curse words, so I'd advise it for eighth graders and above. Although it has some language, this book has kept me reading it from sunrise to sunset, until i finally figured out who the mystery person was and finished it. It has the chapters set up so that it switches to who's point of veiw your seeing which I thought was great so you got everybody's feelings. Overall this book was one of my favorites and I would rate it on a scale of one to ten, about an 8.4.

Thanks, Dakota T! Since you've reviewed a Three-Pointer book, you start out strong with three points! Good work. Keep them coming.

Our second reviewer is AXEL SIMONE:

I AM REVIEWING JACKIE AND ME BY DAN GUTMAN.IT IS A BOOK ABOUT BASEBALL TIME TRAVEL SEGREGATION AND OF COURSE JACKIE ROBINSON

PS IT IS A GREAT BOOK

Thanks, AXEL! Are you with SMS Guys Read too? Since this is your first Slam Dunk, you start out with one point. That's a good start--keep raining them in for more points. (hint--tell us WHY you do or don't like the books you write about)

And, third, we have a review by another new friend, Chandler:

The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe
Robinson Crusoe is by Daniel Defoe. This book is about a man who is shipwrecked on an island. He gets all the supplies off the ship. When he gets back to the island he tries to find a place to sleep. He finds a hill with a spot worn away. It was like the start of a cave, so he built a roof and added wooden pillars to keep it up. When he finished he built a wall around it. After putting all the supplies in his home he starts building chairs and tables. He also planted corn, found grapes, and went hunting. One day he saw cannibals on the island. They were about to eat some of the prisoners they had captured. When Robinson saw one of the prisoners start running into the forest, he runs to help him. Read this book to find out if Robinson Crusoe can save the prisoner and survive on the island! I enjoyed this book because it has a lot of action and exploring.

By Chandler

Thank you too, Chandler! Robinson Crusoe is another of my all-time favorite books and I highly recommend it to you all! The language is old and a bit difficult but the story---wow! Robinson C is the original survivor and this is one of the greatest survival stories of all time. (if you want to read about a real-life Robinson Crusoe, see my review of Stranded, a terrific nonfiction book)

All right, then, here are the standings:

Michael--5 points

Dakota T--3 points

AXEL SIMONE--1 point

Chandler--1 point

Keep it up, guys! You know how it is in basketball--the lead can change at any time! So keep shooting those shots. You have the whole month of March to battle it out. And that also means there's plenty of time for new reader guys to write in!

Carl

Meeting the Man Behind Droon (and I didn't have to go under any stairs!)

Hey, everyone, I had a real treat tonight. I got to meet Tony Abbot, author of the Secrets of Droon books. He's a very friendly guy. I told him about the blog and maybe he'll write to us! He'll be here at our WordPlay Saturday event, along with Jeff Smith, creator of the Bone graphic novels, and several others. Click here to find out about WordPlay Saturday (there will be a lot of fun stuff) and click here to see which authors will be there.

I'll fill you in on a couple of books that I like a whole, whole lot. One is Qwerty Stevens Stuck In Time With Benjamin Franklin by Dan Gutman. What if you had a report on the American Revolution due in less than a hour? What if, instead of typing on a computer, you'd sat down to your genius friend's Anytime, Anywhere Machine, which could bring back people from any time in history? And what if you accidentally brought back Benjamin Franklin? And took him to school with you? It gets better--what if some loser guy found out about the Anytime Anywhere Machine and sent himself back into time to make himself King of America? Could you stop him? Could even Benjamin Franklin stop him? You'll find out if you read this funny and exciting book!

The other is another great true story. It's Marooned: The Strange but True Adventures of Alexander Selkirk, the Real Robinson Crusoe by Robert Kraske. You've heard of Robinson Crusoe, right? The original Survivor? Stranded on a desert island by himself for years? Well, it turns out that the story really happened to a Scottish sailor named Alexander Selkirk. He was left alone on Juan Fernandez Island (360 miles west of South America) for four years! Incredible! But he had even more adventures after that! This is a short book but one that will hold your attention through every page. More proof that History Is Not Boring!

Well, that's my contribution for tonight. Bill is working on a really great post that should be up soon. Hope to see you at WordPlay Saturday!
And don't forget my challenge!
Carl