3rd To 5th Grade
Space Case
By Stuart Gibbs
Rating: 😄
“A delightful and brilliantly-constructed middle-grade thriller.” – New York Times Book Review
Space Case by Stuart Gibbs is one of my favorite books. Stuart Gibbs does an excellent job of balancing mature humor and seriousness. I dislike when an entire book is serious, making it so boring, and I also don’t like it when there's too much humor or the humor is immature. I also love that Stuart Gibbs puts safety regulations and brochures from NASA or the National Aeronautics and Space Association before a new chapter. Stuart Gibbs also does a great job of pulling you in and leaving every chapter with a cliffhanger, making you eager to read the next chapter. These are some reasons why I love Space Case.
Dashiel Gibson or Dash for short is a 12-year-old kid that lives on Moon Base Alpha in 2040. Only 22 people have the opportunity to live on Moon Base Alpha and Dash’s family was given the chance because both of his parents study the moon. Now before you go on thinking, “Wow, that's awesome,” listen to the life of a lunarnaut or moonie: 1. Their sleeping pods are hard and uncomfortable. 2. The food is terrible. 3. The toilets are extremely hard to use. 4. There’s nothing to do. Do you still think that living on the moon is awesome? If you're thinking, “Then why did Dash go to Moon Base Alpha in the first place?” It's because NASA lied to Dash’s family by making it sound like the experience of a lifetime with good food, comfortable sleeping, and tons to do, but there isn’t. The only thing to do is use your comlinks, which is basically like a computer that can talk and is way more advanced. There is one thing that’s good about living on Moon Base Alpha, you’ll go down in history as one of the first lunarnauts.
Everything is boring for Dash until one day when one of the best scientists on Moon Base Alpha, Dr. Holtz, ends up dead on the lunar surface. His spacesuit was on wrong. Signs point to it being a suicide or a mistake, but Dash has reasons to believe it was a murder instead. Later that day, a woman named Zan Perefnic, a temporary lunarnaut in security, wants to help Dash prove that Dr. Holtz was murdered and that the murderer will not get away with it. Now, of course NASA needs money, and telling the public there was a murder could seriously affect the program. So NASA covers up the death to the media and uses its technology to censor phone calls. NASA can erase anything bad you say before it gets to the person you’re communicating with. Using this censorship, NASA makes sure no one bad-mouths Moon Base Alpha or tells anyone about the theory that Dr. Holz was murdered. Dash figures out that Dr. Holtz had a secret that could change history entirely and was planning to announce it, but was murdered. This secret was the cause of death for Dr. Holtz. So who knows how big of a secret it is, but how could this secret affect humankind so much so that someone would kill just because of it?
Space Case is definitely in my top 5 favorite books. Stuart Gibbs is such a great author. I can’t wait to read the rest of this series and see what else goes wrong.
Fish in a Tree
By Lynda Mullally Hunt
Rating: 🙂
I don’t usually love an emotional book but this book was so moving I couldn’t put it down. Fish In A Tree is about a girl that struggles to read but her new teacher Mr. Daniels helps her persevere through it. Fish In a Tree shows you that no matter how difficult something feels you can do it, you just need to attack it a different way. Fish In A Tree also teaches that being unique is awesome and you don't always have to fit in.
Ally is the main character of this book. She believes that she is dumb and will never be able to read, but Mr. Daniels, Ally’s new teacher thinks differently. Mr. Daniels believes that Ally just needs to approach reading differently. I love reading this book and seeing how when Ally feels she just can’t read and will be “dumb” forever, Mr. Daniels lifts her up and helps her show how bright she actually is.
Throughout the book, Ally is bullied by a girl named Shay who puts her down every time Ally tries hard. Shay makes sure that she never feels good about herself. Shay knocks Ally down but Mr. Daniels builds Ally back up again. It’s really interesting when Shay makes Ally feel so bad about herself but Mr. Daniels comes and builds her confidence back up again.
I love this book but the reason I didn’t give this the best emoji is that this book is kind of predictable. A lot of the time at the end of a chapter I try to predict what will happen in the next chapter and 50% of the time I’m correct in this book. Besides that, this book rocks. If you like emotional books then this will be your new favorite book.
The Perfect Score
By Rob Buyea
Rating: 🙂
The Perfect Score is a great book by the author of the 2013 Young Hoosier Book Award-winning Mr. Terupt series. In this book, you get to see the perspective of multiple kids at Lake View Middle School. In this book you don’t have to just follow one person’s perspective, you get to see how other people see things in different situations.
In this book, there are 5 main characters. First, there is Natalie, the perfect girl who wants to be a lawyer when she’s older. She sees everything from a lawyer's perspective. She isn't popular and is considered a teacher's pet but she doesn’t care. She thinks her conscience is the best companion she can have. Second, there’s Scott, who is an extremely smart kid but is very wacky. Scott is great at all subjects besides writing but he is very unlike his classmates. He dresses strangely and doesn’t always think his plans through. He always has great ideas but doesn’t think of what will happen after. Nevertheless, even though his plans usually have a bad outcome he always has good intentions. The third is Trevor, Trevor is a little bit of a bully. In most books, you don’t get to see the bully’s perspective but in this book, you get to learn why Trevor bullies and why he’s not all he seems to be. Fourth is Gavin, Gavin is a football enthusiast but he isn’t super intelligent. He always tries his best but sometimes letters just move around. He also doesn’t come from the most educated family, one of his parents is a high school dropout and one isn’t from the US. He desperately wants to play football but because his parents can’t babysit his sister he has to babysit her, so he doesn’t have time to play football. Last but not least is Randi. Randi is great at gymnastics but has too much pressure on her. Her mom (Jane) is always trying to push Randi too far and Randi is extremely overworked. Due to Randi being overworked she can’t always complete her school work.
Overall this is an excellent book that I thoroughly enjoyed. I loved being able to see other characters' perspectives and Mr. Buyea makes sure to balance each perspective perfectly. Try the Perfect Score and you will love this series.
Operation Do-Over
By Gordon Korman
Rating: 😁
Operation Do-Over is definitely in my top 3 books of all time. It makes you so engrossed that you can’t put it down. Personally, I read it all in one sitting because it was so good.
This book is about a boy named Mason. He has a best friend named Ty that he has been friends with for as long as he can remember. They like the same things and are like brothers to each other. They are both science nerds and they are bullied for it but as long as they are friends they don’t care. Everything is perfect between them until a girl named Ava comes along that they both like. To prevent their friendship from falling apart, they make a treaty not to ask her out but when Mason kisses her and someone posts a picture of it online his life and friendship are ruined. Flash forward 17 years and everything is going wrong, until he gets the chance to do everything over right before Ava came into the picture. He gets to make different choices with his 17-year-old brain that will make him grow up differently. Throughout this book, watch Mason try to change his choices so things don’t end up so badly.
This plot is something that I have never seen before and it is so good. In the beginning, you switch between the life of 17-year-old Mason and 7th grade Mason until the Ava event happens. He then becomes only 17 but when an incident happens that makes him time travel, he becomes a 7th grader again. I can’t say in words how good this book is and how much you should read it.
Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children
By Ransom Riggs
Rating: 😁
This book may be the first book with pictures I've ever enjoyed thoroughly. A lot of the time books with pictures seem childish but Mr. Riggs manages to make the story more enjoyable with the pictures. The pictures add a certain level of realism to the story that makes it seem more realistic and more fun.
This book opens with a grandpa showing his young grandson, Jacob, pictures of peculiar children. Time flashes forward to present day Jacob the day it flashes forward to is the day Jacob's grandfather gets attacked and dies. Jacob is told to go to a small town in Whales and find "the bird". Jacob embarks on an adventure to Whales and there he experience things beyond belief and his life is turned upside down.
This book is a 6 book series and I loved every book in the series. The way Mr. Riggs uses pictures to improve the story is truly remarkable. This one of a kind book will blow your breath away so you should give it a try.
Charlie Thorne and the Last Equation
By Stuart Gibbs
Rating: 😁
Mr. Gibbs delivers yet again. Stuart Gibbs is one of my favorite authors and this is probably my new favorite book by him. I loved how there was a ton of action but there was also a lot of build-up to the action. I don’t like when books have action for no reason and Mr. Gibbs does an excellent job of not doing this
This book is about a not-so-ordinary girl named Charlie. Charlie is the world’s youngest genius. She can hack into almost anything, crack any puzzle, and achieve any athletic feat. Unfortunately, everything takes a turn for the worse. Albert Einstein created an equation that can destroy or save the world and Charlie is forced to try to find this equation while being chased by all different people that want to kill her.
This book had me extremely captivated and it will do the same to you. Mr. Gibbs recently came out with the third book in the Charlie Thorne series and each book is better than the last so I would recommend you read the series.
