The Readers and Writers Paradise

The real scoop on middle grade books.

The Million Dollar Kick by Dan Gutman Review

by 2 Comments

Dan Gutman writes books that kids want to read. The Million Dollar Kick is no exception, continuing with the million dollar series. In this series Gutman writes about kids having the chance to win a million dollars in a variety of sports.

This series is very well liked (I mean; what kid doesn’t dream about winning a million bucks?), and also very well written. The characters are all different, and each has their own storyline and development.

Summary

The main character in The Million Dollar Kick is a thirteen year-old girl named Whisper Nelson. She is very identifiable as a normal eighth grade girl who doesn’t like sports; in fact she hates them.

Part of the reason for this is because her younger sister, Briana, is a pro at sports. Plus, she is a pro at school. On report card day she gets straight A’s, so their mom has Whisper take her out to get some doughnuts. Whisper is jealous of her sister because she is viewed as the perfect one by their mom.

While getting doughnuts Briana happens to enter them into a contest that gives the winner a chance to win a million by kicking against Carmen Applegate, one of the best professional soccer goalies around. Surprisingly, Whisper wins!

Even though Whisper hates sports, she knows a million dollars would really be nice. She tries to learn how to kick, and Ellie Gonzales (the high school keeper) agrees to help her out.

Whisper soon becomes proficient in her soccer skills, improving her emotional life and her relationship with her mom. On the big day however, Carmen gets hurt and a familiar friend steps in to be the goalie. Will Whisper score? Or will she miss and feel bad forever?

Review

This is a very good book, as we have come to expect from Dan Gutman. Whisper is easy to relate to and I still feel like I know her. Throughout the book Gutman uses breaks in the action to his advantage in order to build Whisper’s character.

Whisper’s journey to become a better soccer player is also inspiring. It’s not easy for her to do, but it helps her with much more than just her soccer playing.

It’s also good that Gutman has the main character of this book be a girl, because all of the other books in the million dollar series are boys. This is a great book for girls from around 2nd to 5th or 6th grade, although many boys may still enjoy it. I sure did.

Thank you for reading this review and if you’d like to purchase the book you can do so through this link. You can also like my Facebook Page or enter your email below to get more book reviews.

Enter your email address:

The Readers and Writers Paradise Podcast 004: How the Hunger Games Made me Sick. Literally.

by Leave a Comment

Hi everyone. You may have read my post about a month ago talking about how The Hunger Games made me sick. I decided to expand more in podcast form on exactly what happened and why I don’t like The Hunger Games.

Thanks so much for listening and let me know what you think. Next week we’ll have an awesome guest so make sure you stay tuned for that.


Click here to download.

The 39 Clues Book 9: Storm Warning by Linda Sue Park Review

by Leave a Comment

By the ninth book in The 39 Clues series, Storm Warning by Linda Sue Park,  the series was coming to a close. Amy and Dan have discovered the identity of their family branch and are starting to think more seriously about things.

For those of you who don’t know, The 39 Clues is a multi-author series in which Amy (14) and Dan (11) Cahill learn that they are members of the most powerful family in human history. The source of their families power is hidden throughout the world in the form of thirty-nine special clues. Unfortunately, Amy and Dan aren’t the only ones after the prize. Their treacherous relatives will do anything to get the clues first; even kill.

Read more about The 39 Clues here.

At the end of the eighth book, Amy and Dan find a clue leading them in the direction of Anne Bonny, a famous woman pirate. That means the next clue is in Jamaica.

I actually have a special connection to this book because Linda Sue Park lives in Rochester, NY (the same place I live), and is only a few blocks away from my house. She gave a talk on the book at Barnes @ Noble the day it came out and I got to hear her perspective on the book, so it was quite interesting. Of course, I had already finished the book before I went to her talk that night.

Summary

Even though Amy and Dan know that the next clue is in Jamaica, Dan wants to go to the Bahamas first to play at a water park, so they do. It’s not a total waste, though; they infiltrate a Tomas hideout and steal a bear claw.

After Amy hurts herself in the Bahamas they decide to go and track down Calico Jack in Jamaica, a pirate who had Anne Bonny on his ship. As you’d expect from Amy, they visit a library. They find that some of the stuff on his ship included the bear claw and the necklace Amy got from Grace.

Amy and Dan have been suspecting Nellie for several books now, but things come to a complete head in this book, and Amy and Dan refuse to trust her at all. Nellie is forced to admit that she does in fact work for William McIntryre.

At the library, Amy and Dan meet a nice man named Lester. He doesn’t know anything about the clue hunt, but introduces them to his grandmother, a former friend of Grace. To everyone’s shock she has an earring that matches the snake ring in Nellie’s nose. Nellie was born into the clue hunt just as much as Dan and Amy.

Throughout the whole book Amy and Dan are confronted by the Kabras. Ian and Natalie, but mainly Isabel, the most ruthless villain in the whole series (and that’s saying something!).

Amy and Dan realize that Isabel’s wolf fang necklace might also be connected with the clue, and attempt to steal it from her. Isabel is by no means an easy catch, but Amy, Dan, and Nellie are able to set a trap for her.

Things come to a terrible head as Lester continues to help them find the last clue. An innocent person dies, not for the first time, but it shocks Amy and Dan worse than ever. They realize that they can’t just keep on like this and let people die. They need to quit the clue hunt.

After that Nellie takes them against their will to the Man in Black (yes, his identity is finally revealed!), where Amy and Dan are put to the test. Who are the Madrigals? Are they good or bad? And will Amy and Dan join them?

Review

This is a very good book, although it was written very differently from the rest of the series. Linda Sue Park admitted at her talk that she was surprised when they asked her to write a book for The 39 Clues because she’s not an adventure writer. However, they said they wanted her because she is good with emotions and would be able to handle the death and problems with Nellie and everything. She does a very good job.

We also learn a lot in this book. The true identity of The Man in Black (which we’ve been trying to discover since the first book), the real scoop on the Madrigal clan, and what is going to take place in the last book.

I love reading this book because it shows the characters of Amy and Dan very well. Sue Park definitely does a great job dealing with the death of an innocent person, and it makes Amy and Dan seem more human and real than at any other time in the series.

This is a must read for sure. Linda Sue Park may have been surprised they asked her to write the book, but I’d be even more surprised if you don’t want to check it out.

Thank you for reading this review and if you’d like to purchase the book you can do so through this link. You can also like my Facebook Page or enter your email below to get more book reviews.

Enter your email address:

How I Survived Middle School Book 1: Can You get an F in Lunch? by Nancy Krulik Review

by 1 Comment

This is one of those books that I’ve read time and time again. The Middle School Survival Series by Nancy Krulik is one of my favorites, and Can You get an F in Lunch? is great and very well written book.

Even though this is more of a book for girls, I still thoroughly enjoyed it. Nancy Krulik paints a realistic and exciting picture of the middle school life. This is the first of a twelve book series that is a delight for middle school girls.

Summary

At the beginning of the book we meet the narrator, Jenny. She’s excited (and also a little nervous) to start sixth grade. Sixth grade means that Jenny isn’t a little elementary schooler anymore; she’s entering middle school!

Jenny’s been away for camp all summer, so she’s excited to see her best friend Addie again. She and Addie have been best friends for years, but Addie seems to be strangely distant from her now. Jenny attempts to sit with Addie at lunch, but she has new friends and they refuse to give her a spot at the table.

Jenny is super upset and starts eating lunch in the phone booth because now she’s lost her best friends. A nice sixth grader named Chloe introduces Jenny to her group of friends. They tell her that Addie is now part of a group known as the “Pops,” which basically means the most popular kids in school.

Jenny learns to accept that Addie is no longer her friend and is soon great friends with her new group. The rest of the book shows Jenny and her friends trying to navigate their way through middle school.

Review

This was a great book. I really like the fact that it was told from the perspective of the first person. A lot of middle school type books are written from the third person, and I feel like those are much more difficult to relate to. Jenny is a real person just like anyone else.

This book was also realistic in how middle school is. Just going into it is not very easy, and the author doesn’t try to sugarcoat it. She doesn’t try to make it worse than it is either, however. Jenny is eventually able to find a new group of friends and everyone works out.

Another really cool thing about this book is that it has a bunch of quizzes that you can take and score yourself. There is also a cool website called middleschoolsurvival.com that has almost 50 more interesting quizzes.

I was really sad when the author ended this series, because it’s one of my favorites. I used to read one of these books every night before bed because I loved them so much. A must for any sixth or seventh grade girl.

Thank you for reading this review and if you’d like to purchase the book you can do so through this link. You can also like my Facebook Page or enter your email below to get more book reviews.

Enter your email address:

Honus and Me by Dan Gutman Review

by 2 Comments

I first read Honus and Me when my parents got it for me at Barnes @ Noble years ago. It was not only the first Dan Gutman I had read, but also the first baseball book.

I don’t remember it perfectly because it was so long ago, but I do remember that I was sick and so wasn’t involved in my parents decision to buy the book. At the time I had a low opinion of sports books in general (although I hadn’t read any of them), and so at first criticized my parents for getting me this book.

They said they knew I normally didn’t like those kids of books, but they thought I would like this one. They were right.

Summary

At the beginning of the book we are introduced to the narrator, Joe Stoshack (also known as “Stosh”). Stosh is a young middle schooler who loves baseball and loves to play it. Unfortunately, he is not super good and keeps getting heckled.

Stosh is going through a rough time as his parents recently got divorced and don’t have much money. To help out, he accepts a job cleaning Mrs. Young’s attic. There is a ton of stuff in it, but Stosh agreed to the job and so follows through with it.

Something crazy happens when Stosh is going through Mrs. Young’s attic, however. He finds a Honus Wagner T-206 1909 baseball card; the most valuable in the world! Stosh decides not to tell his mom about it because he knows she’ll probably make him give it back. But this is really amazing; this card sells for millions of dollars!

Something even more amazing happens, however; Honus Wagner shows up in Stosh’s room! How can that happen? Stosh assumes it’s either a dream or a cruel joke, but it is not. He has some special power to travel through time with baseball cards! Stosh talks with Honus and gets help with his game.

Stosh then realizes that he can use the card to travel back in time and they go back to the time of the 1906 World Series. Honus even lets Stosh play for him and make some good plays! After the adventure is over, Stosh is confronted with the conundrum of whether he should sell the card or return it to Mrs. Young. His parents leave the decision up to him, but what actually ends up happening is a surprise to everyone.

Review

This book is not good because of any textbook reasons. It is not funny, does not have a lot of action. The only conventional thing about it is seeing Stosh (an identifiable character) going through some character growth. But really, this shouldn’t be a good book. That’s why it was rejected by seven different publishers.

But it is a good book. Why? For the same reason other books by Dan Gutman are good. He writes about things kids dream about. Being able to travel back in time with baseball cards? That is so awesome!

I didn’t even like baseball or the idea of time traveling when I first read this book, but I absolutely loved the book. Something about the realistic world Gutman creates with Stosh, and the very unrealistic (but very exciting) world of time travel that you just know is going to have some cool adventure.

On Amazon this book has no reviews of less than three stars, and even those are pretty positive. That’s very impressive. Almost all boys will like this book. I’d say it’s best for a fairly young kids; about seven to eleven. Although Stosh may strike out a lot at the beginning, Dan Gutman definitely does not with this book!

Thank you for reading this review and if you’d like to purchase the book you can do so through this link. You can also like my Facebook Page or enter your email below to get more book reviews.

Enter your email address:

The Readers and Writers Paradise Podcast Episode 003: Swindle Series by Gordon Korman

by Leave a Comment

Hey guys thank you so much for coming on to my website. Today (like every Wednesday) I have a new episode of The Readers and Writers Paradise Podcast to share with you. On the podcast I have all kinds of information about books, interviews with authors and book reviewers, and more.

In this episode I’m really excited to share with you my review of the books in the Swindle Series by Gordon Korman. Long-time readers of my blog know that Gordon Korman is probably my favorite kids book author and the Swindle Series is also one of my favorites. I go over all the information about the series in this podcast, so let me know what you think of this episode 🙂

Right click to download