Miss B's Book Review: In The Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson

In The Year of The Boar and Jackie Robinson
by Bette Bao Lord

*note from mom: Miss B. dictated this book review to me - it is a good way for her to practice her narration and she loves seeing her thoughts published on the blog. Leave her a comment and I'll pass it along to her!

We were going to the library one day, and mommy saw this book. She checked it out for me because we were just finishing studying China. I finished this book in two days and I thought it was very good. You should read it.

Some of the main characters are Shirley Temple Wong, mother, father, Mabel, Emily, fourth cousin, precious coins, grandmother, and grandfather. The story starts out, when awaiting marriage, the servant trips over beans and breaks a bowl and blames it on Shirley. She sends her to grandmother and Shirley thinks she is trouble, but grandmother just wanted to tell her her father wanted her and her mother to go to America to meet him.

During the Chinese New Year celebration, right after grandfather tells the stories, Shirley thinks of two American names: Uncle Sam and Shirley Temple. They all like Shirley Temple best, so that is how she got the name Shirley. When she gets to America she finds it hard to make friends. One kid, the bully, (named Mabel), got so mad at her that she gave Shirley two black eyes. But in the end, Mabel turns out to be one of Shirley's best friends and they met through stickball (baseball).

Later on, Shirley meets a girl named Emily. They become true friends with Emily's secret (I'll let you read it to find out the secret). Shirley learns how to play the piano and strongly dislikes it. In the end, Shirley loves America. Emily is elected to represent the sixth grade in a Christmas assembly. When they find out that the person in Emily's position gets to meet Jackie Robinson, Emily says Shirley knows a lot more about baseball and she should be the one to meet him. So Shirley gets to talk to Jackie and give him the gold key to their school.

The moral of the story is change can be good and not always bad. I think anybody would like to read this book.

Miss B's Book Review: The Cabin Faced West

Why I liked "The Cabin Faced West"
by Miss B

This week I read The Cabin Faced West by Jean Fritz. I liked this book because it is historical fiction. It took place during the Revolutionary War in the 1700s. The main characters are Ann, Ann's parents, David, Daniel, Arthur Scott, and George Washington. The story begins with Ann not liking her home. She has come there from Gettysburg, but her new home is very different and on the western frontier of Pennsylvania. She doesn't like it because she has no friends.

Later on (as soon as George Washington comes to visit) she changes her mind. He came to her house to have dinner because he was hungry and he owned the land. Then, her only friend there, Andy, asked her if she would like to go with him to where her home used to be. She says no but offers to teach him to read and write. She teaches him and sometimes he leaves messages for her, and Ann always corrects the spelling.

In the end, the last thing Andy does for her is put a new deerskin cover on her diary. I thought this book sounded true and it turned out that it was! I learned this in the author's note at the end of the book. If you like true stories and exciting adventures, I think YOU should read this book!

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Guest contributor: Miss B and her book review of "The Book of Story Beginnings"

About a week ago, I read "The Book of Story Beginnings" by Kristen Kladstrup. When I first glanced at the cover in the library, I thought it was going to be a book of story beginnings. But when I started reading it I found out that it was a science fiction book.

The main characters were Aunt Lavonne, Lucy Martin, Oscar Martin, Shel (Lucy's dad), Jean (Lucy's mom), Aunt Helen, and Uncle Brian. Oscar wrote a story beginning in the book of story beginnings. The story came true. There was a huge ocean around his farm in Iowa. There was a rowboat sitting on the sidewalk. Oscar climbed in and rode away. His sister, Lavonne, tried to stop him, and he said something to her, but she never knew what he said.

Oscar disappeared until a hundred years later when Lucy and her family (who are living in a city apartment) move to Iowa; Lucy looks at all the clues which are in Oscar's composition books. In the end, Lucy finds Oscar and they go on an adventure and all of the story beginnings in the book come true.

I like this book because I like mysteries. If you love mysteries I think you should read this book. The endings of the chapters are in very wrong places because it always makes you want to read more! I think this book is a page turner. What do you think?

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