Skeleton Creek: The Crossbones by Patrick Carman

Title: Skeleton Creek: The Crossbones

Author: Patrick Carman

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Illustrations by: Joshua Pease and Squire Borel

Critical Review:
I like this book because it has a lot of horror in it. The book is like a treasure hunt for lost artifacts, collections and famous diaries. Read this if you like horror and adventure. This book is kind of neat because it is attached to a website where you can get codes from the books to watch videos taken by Sarah that relate to the story.  The videos are scary or informative to the story.  Some of it might be historical fiction. Go to sarahfincher.com to watch the videos. You will have to read the book to find the code!

Story summary:

In the book, Ryan is writing a diary of what happens to him and Sarah, his best friend, in their hunt for the crossbones, a secret society. They are searching for the Crossbones deepest secrets! They all lead back to skeleton creek, a haunted town, where Ryan is going to finds THE SECRET hidden by the Crossbones. In their hunt they find the stories told to children about ghosts are sometimes real.

Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan

Author: Rick Riordan

illustrator: Fred Gambino

 Publisher: Puffin Books

I got this because I want to finish the Heroes of Olympus and find out what happened in this book. If you like adventure books with mythology in them, then read this book/series.

Critical Review:

In this book you find the view of different characters and what they think about what is going on and what they see. When they are in fights, talks, searches etcetera you see and know what they are going to do. There are a lot of surprising parts in this book, like when Piper sees an image of the future in her dagger. This story has a lot of fighting parts and discoveries that are fascinating.  The reason it is a good book is because it has parts that are not possible in real life, and only possible in the imagination of this book. I learn a lot by reading this series, like what the names of the Greek and Roman gods were, and how to say things in Greek and Latin.  My favorite character is Frank, because he can turn into a dragon or any other animal, I think that’s a cool skill to have, and wish it were possible in real life! You’d see dragons flying everywhere, saying ‘Good Morning!’

Story Summary:

 

In this book Anabeth and Percy and the others are on the adventure to follow the Mark of Athena and kill Gaia the earth goddess, who has opened the doors of death to keep her monsters from dying so she can kill the gods and demigods.  Will the seven close the doors of death and kill Gaia?

 

The Hunger Games series

Book Title: Hunger Games series

Author: Suzanne Collins

Publisher: Scholastic

The reason I got this series is because my mom got it for me thinking I would like it, and I did. So get it if you like dangerous adventure stories. These books have very sad parts in them; for example a lot of people die from Katniss’s actions. I think that you should give it a look.

Critical review:

In this series, Katniss has a dangerous path. She caused a lot of deaths and saw people she cared about die in front of her eyes.  Katniss goes in the hunger games with Peeta  and fools the gamemasters.  Some of the book is actually unbelievable, but the Games themselves are hard to imagine being real. The other parts are more believable, like the war.  The relationships the characters have with each other are believable. Katniss is a normal girl, like everyone else, but she has a special talent. She tries to be kind  to the people she knows, but she has a temper, as you can tell by when she loses control and lashes out at people, like when an important character dies in front of her.  This is a sad series, with exciting adventures and says important things about the world.  Like that we have wars because of lies and religion and a bundle of other things.

Story Summary:

“May the odds be ever in your favor”. This is the phrase in the hunger games first book where you meet Katniss and Gale in the forest in district twelve. This series contains Katniss’s life in and out of the hunger games. It all started when her sisters Prim name was called to enter the hunger games but Katniss takes her place in the dangerous games. Peeta and Katniss pretend to be in love and are in the most danger ever known in their time. The chance of ruining the story for people who haven’t read it yet is great, so I will stop there for now.

The Heroes of Olympus: The Lost Hero and The Son of Neptune

Heroes of Olympus: The Lost Hero and The Son of Neptune

Book Titles: The Heroes of Olympus: The Lost Hero

The Heroes of Olympus: The Son of Neptune

Author: Rick Riordan

Illustrator: Steve Stone

Publisher: Puffin Books

The reason I got these books is because I love the Percy Jackson series. I also got it because I love adventurous stories that have fights and a bit of comedy in it. If you like adventures you should get these books.

Critical review:

This is an interesting series because if you like Percy Jackson then you will love this. Unlike the Percy Jackson books, this series takes the view of 3 different people.  For example, in book one Jason, Piper, and Leo are the three point of view characters. In the beginning it is a little confusing because Jason is introduced without much description of who he is, partially because his memory has been taken. Leo in book one can do something amazing. In book two Frank has a special talent passed down through his family that is very fascinating. The adventures are mind blowing. The gods in this series can change from their Greek form to their Roman form.

Story Summary:

In this series, in the first book you find a person named Jason who is the son of Zeus. Later you meet Piper and Leo who are all  going to Camp Half Blood.  In book one Jason, Piper, and Leo are searching for the monsters source of power. In the second book you find Percy with Hazel and Frank in a different adventure to fight the eldest giant Alcyoneus in Alaska. I hope you all like this series.

Book Review: The Spook’s Apprentice by Joseph Delaney

Book Title: The Spook’s Apprentice
Author: Joseph Delaney
Illustrator: David Wyatt
Publisher: Random House Children’s

I picked up this book because the subhead read “Is he brave enough?”.  I got curious and I wanted to read it.  Do you think that’s a good reason?  It is the first book in the Spook’s stories. I also know that this is probably a book that is not as well-known in the U.S. as it is in the U.K. because this author is from the U.K.

Critical review:

This book was really interesting because of the concept of the seventh sons of seventh sons.  Supposedly the seventh sons of seventh sons are always left-handed and can see things that you can’t see. The author really  made it interesting.  Some characters were good but forced to do bad things, and some were just plain bad.  The plot was different and taught me about a lot of different things that I didn’t know about before, like boggart’s and ghasts and kinds of witches.  The author used really good text to get my attention, it was marvelous! The story was surprising and not predictable, the protagonist seemed like any other boy.  The only clues that he was special was his left-handedness and that he was like the Spook. The ending was really, really good! He even tells you some extra details after the book was finished. People who like fictional or fantasy characters like witches or boggarts will like this story.   It is a great and fantastic book. I recommend you read it someday. I am going to look for the next book in this series.

Story Summary:

At the beginning of the story, you meet Tom (the protagonist), who is next to his dad talking to the Spook.  Tom’s dad tells the Spook that Tom is the seventh son of a seventh son.  Later on in the story Tom meets a girl named Alice (who is forced by her aunt Bony Lizzie to free the most evil witch, Mother Malkin.  Alice does not want to do this, and when Bony Lizzie threatens Tom, Alice stands up and saves him. The adventures from there are many!

Book Review: Ghost Knight by Cornelia Funke

Book Title: Ghost Knight
Author: Cornelia Funke
Illustrator: Andrea Offermann
Date of Publication: May 2012
Publisher: Hatchette Book Group

Critical review:
The book was good.  The characters in the story came out to me. And the illustrator, when the pictures came, I really loved it.  Especially the page with toads all around it.  That one was funny! This story was not real.  There’s a grandma in the story named Zelda.  She was crazy in a funny way.  She did crazy things.  And there’s the main character, Jon, and his friend Ella.  There are also ghosts in the story. Some are good, some are bad. Some are very mean! The story was really great because of how the story came out, and some parts can be emotional. Some are very exciting, if you like adventurous stories, Ghost Knight is probably one you will like.

 

Story Summary:

At the beginning of the story, Jon is going to a new school and the place has ghosts in it.  He doesn’t know it at first, but then some ghosts come around and start trying to kill  him because of his middle name. Ella helps him get into the church to uncover some mysteries, and then Ella gets kidnapped! Jon, Zelda, and a few other allies work to rescue Ella, defeat the evil ghosts, and I cannot tell you the rest! Hopefully when you finish the book, you’ll realize why! The end is so interesting!

All About Kurt

Hello.  My name is Kurt.  I am a 10 year old who loves to read, all kinds of books!  I think books are made for anybody, they don’t have to be boy books or girl books.  It just matters how good the story is. I like books like the Warrior Cats series, by Erin Hunter.  I also really like the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. I really like to read Choose your own Adventure books. Some of my favorite books I’ve ever read are:

The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain

The Jungle Book/The White Seal/Rikki Tikki Tavi by Rudyard Kipling

Dr. Doolittle, by Hugh Lofting

I don’t know which book I like the best. I really just like books a lot.  I  like other things too.  I like playing board games with my friends and family. My favorite board game is The Game of Life.  I like to spin the spinner.

Send me your suggestions for a good book to read, and I will tell you about what I’m reading!