Book Report : DOLL BONES

This book is called DOLL BONES, written by Holly Black. It is about three kids named Poppy, Alice and Zach who love playing with dolls. But, the three are in middle school now and Zach’s dad is pushing Zach to join the basketball team and quit girls and dolls. Zach ignores his dad and doesn’t think that his dad will do anything until Zach’s dad throws away all Zach’s toys and gives Zach no choice. Zach quits playing with dolls but lies about the reason. Poppy and Alice continue playing but are suspicious about the reason Zach quit. Poppy and Alice are happy and continue playing until...  Poppy opens her eyes one night and declares that she is having dreams about a girl who is mysteriously murdered and is made into a doll because she is loved so much by her father. The doll desperately wants to be buried. This is the story of the doll: A few years ago there was a girl named Eleanor Kerchner and her father was a sculptor. Her father made all sorts of lovely things like vases and stuff but he loved Eleanor most and never wanted to see her die. But, one day Eleanor was mysteriously murdered and Eleanor’s father came to know. He was so sad that he decided that he was going to use her ashes and bones to make a doll representing Eleanor.  Poppy’s mum bought the doll years ago and never let anybody touch it. Poppy and her friends were scared of it for a while but they decided to add it to their game to make them less scared. The doll becomes the queen of the game and sits in her case watching over everything. But now Poppy takes it out and explains everything to Alice. Scared, they both wake Zach up and tell him about it. Zach agrees to help so long as the girls don’t talk about the reason he quit and they all start to East Liverpool, Ohio since that is the doll’s preference (to be buried). On the way to East Liverpool, Ohio, they have many adventures but I won’t tell you all. All I will say is ‘Watch out for the crazy man!’ Meanwhile, Alice starts to doubt Poppy and thinks that she made all of this up just to be bossy and to get them to do what she wants. It is only when people think that the doll is an actual person – for example, whenever the three go into restaurants, the managers ask if they need a table for 4 people and not three - that Alice realizes that everything was true and she makes up with Poppy. Spooky isn’t it?! I wonder why this happened to them? Has the doll possessed them with her looks and ash?’. Anyways, they land up in a library trying to find the place to bury the doll but somebody or someone takes the doll when they go to sleep and throws it away. The trio looks for her in the morning but the librarian finds them and makes them call their parents! Each child talks with their parent and is told to come back home. Only, the three still have sometime. Zach, Alice and Poppy split up to find the doll and Zach finds the doll in a dustbin and takes her back. Poppy is so happy and gives each of them a job. Alice looks for flowers, Poppy starts to say bye to the doll and Zach digs the grave. Straight after burying the doll, a few honks are heard and the book ends with the three friends walking, relieved, to their cars. The doll won’t trouble them forever now. Or... will it?!

What I like about the book is:

• The spookiness of it all. It made me have goose bumps! I wonder how Holly Black got the inspiration to write a story about a creepy doll.
• I admire Holly Black, she is such a good writer and like the language she uses. She really gets the reader (or me) involved.
• She makes some pretty interesting characters too. If you read The Spiderwick Chronicles you’ll see what I mean.
• When I finished reading Doll bones, I found myself writing a book literally based on Doll bones but just including different characters. I didn’t finish the book though (I thought it was copying so I didn’t continue).
• Actually, when I finished reading the book I felt a little scared every night because I thought that maybe the doll would come to me. That just proves that the author did a very good job in writing the story.
• One of the things that I also found interesting was the way she added in the secrets and made the story like a mysterious – like the part with the crazy man!
• One of my favorite parts was at the end when Zach asks Alice out and then they become ‘close friends’.

I WOULD GIVE THIS BOOK A 10 OUT OF 10 RATING!

FIND OUT WHAT I MEAN BY READING ‘DOLL BONES’! YOU CAN BUY IT HERE FOR $5.13 ON AMAZON OR HERE FOR £5.59 AT THE GUARDIAN BOOKSHOP

This review first appeared on the GuardianChildren's books site

Book Report: BECAUSE OF WINN DIXIE

This book is called BECAUSE OF WINN DIXIE, written by Kate Dicamillo. One of the main lessons this book is: Never judge people and you will find that more and more people want to befriend you. It is about a girl named India Opal Buloni and her dad is a preacher. India goes to a grocery store named the Winn- Dixie grocery store one day searching for macaroni and cheese but instead comes back with a dog. The manager got really angry with this dog and is about to call the animal shelter people when India wants to rescue the dog and claims that he is her dog. India wants to save this dog because India is the preacher’s daughter and she cares about other people. She names him Winn Dixie. Winn Dixie is in need of a home and so the preacher agrees to keep him. As India washes Winn Dixie, she talks to him about the similarities they have which are: that they both don’t have a momma and then suddenly when she mentions her momma, Winn Dixie gives her his dog smile and India feels like he is urging her to ask about her momma to the preacher. Winn Dixie’s situation makes India remember her momma because he is a stray dog without a home and family. India’s momma ran away because she couldn’t stand being judged about everything. India is without her mother and doesn’t even know how her mother looks! India wanted to know things about her mother because if her mother ever came back she wants to hug her real tight and never let her go again. The preacher agrees to tell India 10 things about her momma for each year India has been alive. India writes it down and starts to go to sleep when she figures out that Winn Dixie has a pathological fear of thunder! India tries to calm Winn Dixie the down and then cuddles him while going to sleep. The very next day, India takes Winn Dixie inside the church and he surprises everybody by catching a mouse. After the church experience, India is certain that Winn Dixie is a special dog and takes him to the library but unfortunately has to put him outside due to the library rules. Ever since India moved to Naomi, Florida she has made no friends but then finds one. The librarian, Miss Franny Block starts telling a story about her grandfather when sulky Amanda comes and listens to the story too. Miss Franny Block tells the story of her grandfather and war and how her grandfather invented a candy named Littmus Lozenge which tasted of candy and was chewy but also tasted a little bit like sadness. When India was walking Winn Dixie one day, she bumps into Sweetie Pie Thomas, a 5 year old girl, and Winn Dixie attracts Sweetie Pie Thomas. So, she invites India to her birthday party because of Winn Dixie! So in a way, Winn Dixie also helps India in return for what she did for him! India makes friends with a kind lady named Gloria Dump and she helps India organise a party with all her new friends! But suddenly thunder strikes, and Winn Dixie runs into the house and hides under a chair. But India thinks that he has run away and starts to look for Winn Dixie outside and when she is not able to find him Gloria Dump says “You can only love what you have until it is time it goes”. This line means: You can only have something for a time until it wants to leave and go. Suddenly the preacher smiles and reveals a shaking Winn Dixie under a chair! The party continues with jokes and they all have fun and make friends!

What I like about the book is:

• The way the author chose a strange title for this book. She could have chosen: India and her dog, Winn Dixie, The lonely girl, the preacher’s daughter or any of the other titles but, she chose this because India had a companion and ‘Because Of Winn Dixie’ she gets more frineds and family. ‘Because Of Winn Dixie’!
• That there are a lot of lessons in this book such as: you can only love what you have got while you have it but when it is time for it to go, let it go.
• Feel open to anyone even the most ugliest and dirtiest, you never know what might happen
• I liked the way that she described Amanda as ‘pinch-faced’ but then later changed her reaction towards her and is more warm to her
• How the author describes the Littmus Lozenge so well that I felt like eating it!
• I also like the way the author made the text really expressive and fun to read aloud like in one part she says “He stunk. Bad. But already I loved him with all my heart. See how she brings the expression of stopping and then saying it?! Cool! Try saying it aloud yourself and see what I mean.
• The language of the story has interesting grammar but also a specific way to say it, for example: “Hunting will become huntin’”. This shows that this book is set somewhere in America because people there have a unique accent and they use slang a lot (which is pretty cool)!
• In this book, I learnt a new word: Pathological fear which means a fear that is very hard to get rid of! India’s pathological fear is that whoever she loves will go away! That is why  India is so happy when she finds Winn Dixie again.
• I wish that the author wrote one last chapter describing how the mum comes back and how she starts to get used to Winn Dixie and how the preacher starts to spend more time with her and India and the mummy and daughter things that India and her momma do together!

I would give this book a 9 out of 10 rating. 

FIND OUT WHAT I MEAN BY READING "BECAUSE OF WINN DIXIE"

You can buy it here on amazon for $3.86

Book Report : JONATHAN LIVINGSTON SEAGULL

This book is called JONATHAN LIVINGSTON SEAGULL, written by Richard Bach. It is a moral- fiction story and the lesson in this story is: if you want to do something really, really, really badly, nothing can stop you. The author uses the example of seagulls and the metaphor of flying to get his message through.The story is about a seagull named Jonathan Livingston Seagull and he loves to fly. But, his flock doesn’t take much notice in flying and are interested in flying only to be able to get food. This makes Jonathan Livingston Seagull different because none of the other seagulls learn and take flying seriously. One day, Jonathan is made an outcast because his flock sees him flying through the area and he crashes down into his flock. He is not allowed to live with his own flock anymore. Jonathan Livingston Seagull feels really shocked and sad because he thought that his flock would praise him. (This reminds of the Tale of Despereaux. Here is my blog report if you’d like to check it out. ) After a while, Jonathan practices flying again and he experiments with new techniques in flying! One day, two other seagulls come to take him to the next level where there would be other seagulls who thought like him. When he gets to his new flock he feels like he doesn’t know everything there is to know about flying and starts to feel like a student again. So with that, Jonathan Livingston Seagull keeps getting better at his flying skills. Once Jonathan Livingston Seagull reaches the top most level he flies back to his old flock and finds a few students who have the same dream and think the same about flying and begins to teach them. Jonathan Livingston Seagull had a choice to continue on and remain a master in his old flock but he chose to go back to his flock and support the gulls that want to fly. Fletcher Lynn Seagull is one of them and he didn’t know how, but, one day he was going to be able to fly like Jonathan and teach the other seagulls. Jonathan Livingston Seagull and his new students practiced in front of the flock everyday and slowly, more and more gulls wanted to be a part of Jonathan Livingston Seagull’s classes. Since this is a simple book on the outside, my summary is really short but the lessons in this book are complicated and deep.

What I like about the book is:

ð    It teaches us that nobody has limits. Nobody - not even a seagull! And that if you want to do something really, really, really badly – nothing can stop you.

ð    I like that Jonathan Livingston Seagull practices and practices and practices to get to the next level and then is happy for a while but then feels restless to get to the other level... It’s like a video game because you keep wanting to get to the other level and then the other and finally to the top level. LOL!

ð    The lesson in this is that if you want to fly high and show your talent you have to practice it and be committed to it. You can’t do it for two weeks then stop forever because that’s not being committed. 

ð    I like when his teacher shows him that he already has whoever he wants to be inside of him.... he only had to learn to let it out. I think that what the author was really trying to say was that all of us have a Jonathan Livingstone Seagull inside of us... we just have to let it out. Which means ... we all already have the best we want to be in us, and we need to practice and continue it to let it show through.

ð    While I was reading this book I started to wonder, why did Richard Bach use flight and the life of a seagull as his base? The obvious reason is because a seagull is a bird but the deeper reason is because it represents moving up and flying high in what you do best

ð    I like how the author used a lot of facts about flying, and the speed and height that Jonathan Livingston Seagull was going at. Did you know that Richard Bach was able to do such a detailed explanation because he studied flight and got injured badly once?!

ð    I like that in this book, instead of the format of Chapters, the author uses pictures to separate each piece of writing from the other

ð    I would recommend that if you’re a girl aged like me around 8-10, you might want to read this with your mum or dad to understand it. Like, how I read it. It helped me to understand what this author means and what his message is.

ð    This book has impacted me because as I’m a blogger, I sometimes get a little bit disappointed in my drafts if they are bad or I’m stuck. So, when my mum and I started reading this book, I learnt to try again and again and tell myself that that I can do better if I just try my best.

ð    This book has stuck with me for a long time and I think its good if a book sticks with you because that means that it is a meaningful book. I felt very proud when I finished reading this book because this is an adult book and it is difficult to understand.

I WOULD GIVE THIS A 10 OUT OF 10 RATING!!

FIND OUT WHAT I MEAN BY READING JONATHAN LIVINGSTON SEAGULL! YOU CAN BUY IT HERE ON KINDLE FOR $11.31

Note : I want to thank Anu for gifting this book to me! This is for you :)