Jane Eyre

Author: Charlotte Bronte

What is it about: Jane Eyre is a retold classic about a poor orphan, Jane Eyre’s life. She was not brought up very nicely, and is therefore sent to a school. She is also treated very badly at the school. Determined to change her luck, she becomes a governess, and settles happily into a new life. However there are things that she does not know things that she needed to find out.  Jane Eyre is sort of a buildingsroman, as it is the story of Jane growing up.

Would I recommend it? Yes. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes life stories. It is not very adventurous or exciting, it’s not really a page-turner, but I think some people would find it interesting. In some parts it is a little boring as not a lot happens, but some parts are quite interesting. Therefore I don’t recommend it to people who prefer adventurous, exciting books. Although even I didn’t think that it would be that good, but I’m actually really enjoying it!

Rating out of 5: 4 star

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlaz6ednUo0t

Private Peacful

My Book Blog

Title- Private Peaceful

Author- Michael Morpurgo

What was it about- Private Peaceful is a book about a young soldier, who looks back over his childhood, from the battlefields of the 1^st world war. He looks back on all the memories of his family life deep in the country side. But the clock is ticking and every moment Tommo spends remembering how things used to be, means another moment to something that will change his life forever.  ‘They have gone now and I’m alone at last. I have the whole night ahead of me, and I won’t waste a single moment of it. I want tonight to be long, as long as my life’.

My opinion- I thought that the book was really good. I really enjoyed reading it because, I found it really interesting. It was really descriptive, and full of adventures and exciting events. At first when I read the blurb, I thought that it was going to be really boring, just looking back on memories, but when I got into it, it was actually really good. Also it’s not all just memories from his child hood; it also looks back at when he first joined the army. I found that bit really sad because there were lots of people who go killed and stuff, and it wasn’t very nice. One part was actually quite scary because they were waiting for themselves to be shot which was quite scary. Some parts were really exciting because you really wanted to know what was going to happen. So overall, I thought that it was really good.

Would I recommend it? - Yes. I would recommend it to anyone who likes war books, exciting but sad. It may sound boring at first but when you get into it, it’s really good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTe-QLYXo54

Deathwatch

My Book Review

Title: Deathwatch

Author: Nicola Morgan

What is the book about? Deathwatch is about a teenage girl, (Cat McPherson) who is being stalked. She is far too busy to notice the sinister events that shadow her. She loves sports and she focuses on her training a lot, not realizing that she is being followed by someone with a reason o hate her. When her stalker strikes, trouble begins.

What did I like about the book? I think that the book is really exciting the whole way through, it is the type of book which you can’t stop reading. I think that it is really clever the way that it is written because, each chapter is told from either cat herself, or her stalker. I think that this is really effective because when you are reading the book they are telling the same story, from their different point of views which makes the book much more interesting. The book is good because it really gets you thinking about who the stalker might actually be. I also enjoyed this book because it seemed very realistic; all the events that happened were written in a very realistic way.

What didn’t I like about the book? I thought that the book was really good however in some parts a bit confusing. When the story was told from the stalkers point of view it got a bit confusing therefore a bit boring. Also the book was really long and I think it dragged on for a bit.

Would I recommend it? Yes. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes mystery books, adventure books, or scary books. However because it’s quite a long book, you have to concentrate on it because otherwise you forget everything that has happened.

Rating out of 5? 4 stars

Kidnapped

Kidnapped

Title- kidnapped

Author- Robert Louis Stevenson

What is it about?- ‘If anyone tells you life is a dull and predictable business, let them hear my story. In the 1751 I lost my parents and my home. I was 16 years old and all I possessed were the clothes on my back. I had nowhere to go, and no reason to think my life would amount to much. ‘Kidnapped’ is a thrilling adventure story about a boy who, after his parents died, has to go and live in ‘the house of the shaws’ , with his mad, mysterious uncle ‘Ebenezer’.  Ebenezer is hiding a secret from him, and is cautious that he’ll find out therefore his uncle is subtly trying to murder the boy, whilst he’s living in the house (however the boy does not know this). One day the boy went on a boat trip with his uncles friend (who is also trying to kill him) The stranger took the boy down to the chamber of the trip. The boy then accepted to go down with the stranger. This is when the boy was kidnapped!!!!

My opinion- I think the book is a really exciting tension building book. At the beginning of the book it’s really scary and chilling. It’s the sort of book that I could not read before I went to bed because it gave me nightmares!!!!! However as the book goes on it is not scary anymore, but it’s a lot more complicated as more things happen. I think in the middle of the book, too much is going on and it gets too complicated to read. I had to read each sentence like 3 times to understand it. However it was really exciting and a good thing to read when you’re bored!!!!

Would I recommend it?- Yes. I’d recommend it to anyone who like action packed adventure stories and also scary stories. But I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who doesn’t because then it will be really boring.

Rating out of 5-                                                           

    3 stars                                                             

Video about the book

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd9WY4KaaVQ

The London Eye MysteryThe London Eye Mystery

The London Eye Mystery

Author- Siobhan Dowd

What is it about- This book is about a boy called Salim who goes on a nice trip to the London Eye, with his cousins Kat and Ted.  Salim went up on the London Eye on his own because they only had one ticket which they had given to them by a man earlier. As Salim boarded onto the pod he waved goodbye to Kat and Ted who were watching him. He went on with about 15 other strangers. Ted and Kat followed his pod the whole way round and when it landed every one got off apart from Salim. He went up but never came down. Ted and Kat got very worried; they didn’t know what to do. Hours later they were on the telly, in the newspaper and the police were searching. However Kat and Ted wanted to find out where Salim was them selves. They start off by looking at photos they took that day, from that they find loads of evidence, they tracked down the man that gave them the ticket, they went on the London eye them selves, they found and talked to people who were in the pod with Salim. I have not yet finished the book, so I do not know what happens to Salim, but if you really want to find out then you’ll have to read the book!

What do I think will happen- I think that Salim may not have got on the London eye at all and Kat and Ted just saw a shadow waving, but not Salim actually getting on. Then Salim may not have found Kat and Ted went missing. The annoying thing is that you have to read the whole book to find out, which at first I thought was really annoying because I didn’t want to read the book I just wanted to find out what happened to him. However it’s really good because each time that they find new evidence you think of a different theory. It is really exciting the whole way through.

Am  I enjoying it-  Yes. It is a really exciting book that I can’t stop reading. There is always something going on that you want to find out more about. The book really gets you thinking about what you think happened to Salim. It is a very action packed book that has a lot going on, but sometimes there is too much going on that makes you forget about something else. It is one of those books that when you start reading it you can’t put it down. However it is not a good book for when you just want to relax and just lie in bed and read because it’s too action packed and it isn’t a relaxing calm book. It’s a book that you have be in the right mood to read it. But it’s a good read.

Would I recommend it- I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a mystery and adventure. It is definitely that type of book. But it is not a fantasy book, it is all very realistic.

Rating out of 5- 4 stars

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFrgB7u66uk&feature=player_detailpage

                                  (click here to watch a video about the book)

The War Horse

http://www.amazon.co.uk/War-Horse-Michael-Morpurgo/dp/1405226668

 (Click here then click on look inside)

‘I saw the grey soldiers ahead of us raise their rifles and heard the death rattle of a machine gun’. The war horse is a powerful story told by the author, Michael Morpurgo of the truest of friendships in the worst of the wars; it is an exciting, thrilling adventure that you can’t stop reading.

       The War Horse is about a horse who tells a story of his memories of the 1^st world war. The story starts off like this, ‘my earliest memories are a confusion of hilly fields and dark, damp stables, and rats that scampered along the beams above my head. But I remember well enough the day of the horse sale. The terror of it stayed with me all my life’. This sentence hooks you in straight way because you want to read more. He gets sold to a nasty middle aged man, who is cruel and nasty to him, he took him to the farm in which the man lived. It makes you feel sorry for Joey’s he wasn’t doing anything wrong but he was being treated unfairly. The author builds up sympathy by using similes’ like ‘I struggled out of the net like someone drowning and trying to breathe’.  However the man had a son who’s name was Albert, Albert was very different to his father, and he was kind and caring toward this horse. They started to build a strong relationship over the months he stayed with Albert. Albert came and talked to Joey (Albert called this horse Joey) each and every day, he talked about anything and every thing just to comfort Joey, he taught him how to do some work on the farm and soon enough he was a proper working farm horse on the farm.

       One night Albert’s father came home from work and had some news that there will be a war, a world war and they needed all the horses they could get. Albert’s father really wanted Joey tog and be a war horse, as much as Albert refused, his father said that he had to go and promised Albert with all his heart that Joey will be safe and well looked after. I was very shocked but not very surprised as the title of the book was the ‘War Horse’ so I half expected it.

      Joey’s journey to war was a long one, he walked through deserted lands for days but this was just the beginning. I think that it’s hard to keep the book interesting when it’s on a boring part but Michael Morpurgo did still keep it interesting because things kept happening all the time. Many terrible things happened to Joey in the war, he met several masters and several other horses that comforted him but many sadly lost their lives. He got very ill in many parts of the book, he broke his leg, and he was almost bombed. He got send off to another farm when he was not needed to a little girl called Emily who deeply loved him then he got send back. However on top of all this he had made a very close relation ship with another horse called Top Thorn they stayed side by side for the whole thing, Top Thorn was Joey’s only comfort. The author made it very clear that they were very close by not just saying how Joey felt but also about Top Thorn and this suggested he was important to Joey. However something happened to Top Thorn that made Joey lose every thing and he could not cope. Then Joey found someone very special to him, who I will not say but I will say that it was a very moving moment as it was built up with lots of tension.

      After all that had happened the war eventually came to a surprising halt. I thought it was a bit sudden and I was not expecting it as I was no where near the end of the book. I wondered what else was going to happen. Well I’ll tell you something very sad happened to Joey, he did not die and he did not get hurt. But I’m not going to tell you what happened as you’ll have to read it for yourself. However what did happen was very nerve- racking, it was all building up to one thing. The annoying thing was that the thing that happened only got mentioned in the last sentence. It was building up for about three chapters for just one sentence. Although I was very nervous and it was very moving, it even made me cry!

     I think this book was an amazing book (one of my favourite), it was exciting the whole way through and not at any point was I bored. I would recommend it to anyone who likes exciting stories. It even made me cry at the end as the phrases used were very moving. I would give it a 5 star rating and hope that you read it too.

Authors Note

‘Some in the village, only very few now and fewer as each year goes by, remember Joey as he was. His story is written so that neither he nor those who knew him, nor the war they lived in and died in, will be forgotten’.