Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Michael Writes Three!

Sorry to double-post on you, Darth Bill, but our good friend Michael has outdone himself today with not just one, not just two, but THREE reviews! Let's hear him:

15 Minutes
by Steve Young
Casey is late for absolutely everything! But when he finds a strange watch in the attic left by his Grandpop Jesse, he finds that it's also a time machine. But it can only go 15 minutes into the past, and it can't go to the future at all. But Casey finds the time machine (called the Go-back) to be quite useful in winning footbell games, gaining popularity, and wooing girls. But he lets his not-so-popular friend Nina have a go at it, and once she figures out that Casey is using the Go-back to cheat and become popular, she doesn't want to be his friend anymore. Casey wants popularity, but he still wants to be friends with Nina. Bur Nina won't have it both ways. Casey is left with a decision, and it's not going to be an easy one. This was a very good book, and with how funny it was, I would suggest Steve Young's other book: Winchell Mink: The Misadventure Begins. Winchell Mink gets transformed into is pet turtle and sees things from a different point of view. Awesome!


Herbert's Wormhole
by Peter Nelson
When Alex meets up with neighborhood weird kid Herbert during summer break, they are transported through time to the 22nd century. There, as they find out, aliens that have helped humans throughout history (called G'Daliens) showed themselves in 2050, and since then the humans and the G'Daliens have lived in harmony. Except for one of them. Gor-don. He hates Herbert and Alex, and tries to destroy them forever. Can these simple 21st century kids win against these 22nd century G'Daliens? Only one way to find out. Read!

Counter Clockwise
by Jason Cockcroft
Something is up with Nathan's dad. He goes into the shower and disappears. When Nathan hears a crash, he bursts into the bathroom, only to find a dad-sized hole, but no dad. His mom can't help because she got run over by a bus and died 10 years ago. But when Nathan meets a Tower of London gaurd (the locals call them Beefeaters due to their size) named Bartelby, he figures out that Henry, his dad, is living in the past so intensely tha sometimes he's actually living it. He crashes through the bathroom wall and disappears into time. Nathan must stop him from trying to save his mom from the bus, lest they both be run over! Considering that this is Jason Cockcroft's first novel, it was really good. However, it fails to stick to a plotline throughout the book. It is much like a Dr. Seuss book, only it's mostly time travel. That's the only thing that kept me reading this book: time travel. On the 1 to 10 scale, it's probably a 5 or 6. Not bad, but could have been a whole lot better. For those of you who read these reviews often, feel free to get this book and write your own review. Mr. Schwanke, the man who puts all these reviews up, and I would like some different view points. (so would Darth Bill and Master Jedi Zack! Sorry, just had to break in and say that. the CARLMAN) Just because I thought it was OK, doesn't mean you have to think that. If you read a review and would like to get the book reviewed and then you want to write a review of your own on it, go right ahead. I would really enjoy hearing from you. You might think the book is great, so why not read it today?


Thanks again, Michael! You're absolutely right--we LOVE for guys to write in and tell what they really think of the books they read. Or the movies they see. (as Darth Bill said in his comment about The Lightning Thief movie) So come on! Put your own reviews in that "Comment" section below.

1 comment:

D.A. Tyo said...

Okay...I'm a girl...An older girl...who is also a teacher...and a reader...I secretly lurk around your site looking for those super cool guy books I miss sometimes...because I have guys in my classrooms that need guy books. I'll keep up my secret spying in the hopes that you review the COOLEST...most SPECTACULAR book that has come from Gary Paulsen in a while...Woods Runner! BAM! SUPER AWESOME BOOK! My boys are reading this one like a wolf eats! Check it out!