Free Book Reviews

Books We Read

Google

I will admit that I haven’t seen the movie but I enjoyed the book greatly. It is a story about four girls who are friends because their Mothers where in the same aerobics class for pregnant women. The girls remain friends even though their Moms grow apart. The story starts a the beginning of the first summer that these friends will not be together. What keeps the friendships strong is a pair of jeans that seem to be magical. The pants magic makes who ever wears them look good.

The friends create rules to govern the use of the Traveling Pants. They all agree with the rules and that they will send the pants to the next on the list. The pants help the friends deal with the hard ships of growing up and reminds each of the girls to remember that they are loved.

This is a coming of age story that appeals to the girl in all of us. I don’t think many of the boys in my classes would enjoy the book but the girls do. It is a great book to remind us that growing up is tough for everyone but is made easier by the friends that surround us.

I am always looking for books to recommend to students, (I am a English teacher) so I tend to pick up many different books. This book, I actually bought at the recommendation of the bookseller at the local WalMart. She mentioned that she was having a hard time keeping it on the shelve. I picked up a copy and paid for it. Once I started it, I could not put it down and have read the other books in the series.

This is a story of a young man who discovers that he is really a demi-god. (Okay, his Dad was an Olympian. Yes, one of the Greek Gods that we all read about in school. The one of the enjoyable parts of this series is that you are introduced to Greek Mythology in a more modern setting then the stories that I read as a student.) Percy Jackson is thrown into many adventures without having any idea of how he is going to survive but he always does. He has the help of friends, like Annabeth (also a demi-god) and Grover (I won’t tell you his secret, you will have to read the books). He and his friends have to find out who stole Zeus’s Lighting Bolt and clear his name. The trio face many trials and meet many interesting characters along the way.
A movie based on the book is being released soon. I hope that it nearly half as good as the books.

When I was walking around the table at the local warehouse store, the cover of this book caught my eye. I read the review on the front cover and the description on the back and decided to buy a copy. I was looking for books to take on vacation with me.

I was totally surprised with the quality of writing and the story that Tatiana de Rosnay wove about a very little known part of French history. The first half of the book is two stories that are interwoven with each other. The commonality that they share is the location in which they take place. One story takes place in 1942 as the French Police round up the Jews living in Paris. Sarah, who is 10, locks her younger brother in a secret cupboard with promise to return in a couple of hours to free him. They are unaware of what is really going on. The other story is about Julia Jarmond, an American Journalist, who is researching the round up. Julia’s research brings her to discover a secret that her husband’s family has been living with for the past 60 years.

This book will hunt you and you will remember it and the stories that it tells. It very artfully tells the horror that happened to many who did not survive but also how it effected those who did.

This is a must read.




Previous Posts
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
jearuiz0114 on Swindle by Gordon Korman
January 2010
M T W T F S S
« Jun   Feb »
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031

RSS
Comments RSS
Crawl Page
Travel Website Theme by RJ

Powered By WordPress
Copyright © 2009 Free Book Reviews