Am I in a dream or something!? My name is Amanda and I am turning 11. You know the saying “…You only turn 11 once…”? What a lie. I am still celebrating my 11th birthday! Friday, my birthday, has been repeating itself! After a few days of reliving this day, I figured out that my ex-best friend (Leo) has the same problem! But why does it have to be us? I mean, we do share a birthday. But weirdly, a really, really old lady named Angela keeps on looking for and trying to find Leo and I. It’s almost like she knows what’s happening to us. I think she has some type of magical powers and has put an enchantment or some type of spell on us. We both finally got a chance to talk with Angela. She won’t let us know anything though! We find evidence and start to undo this enchantment. We did exactly what it says.  Let’s see what happens in the morning. RING RING RING! My alarm clock! NOOOOOO! I am still living this day! What could have possibly gone wrong! I just had a horrible thought… what if I never escape this loop!

Hello, my name is Nikki J. Maxwell. I am in middle school and I don’t think I’m going to  survive! I’m FREAKING OUT! I just made a fool of myself in front of secret crush Brandon AGAIN! I’m not the only one crushing on him though, Mackenzie Hollister is too. She is the most popular girl at Westchester Country Day Middle school! She such a snob. Nevermind, she’s a killer shark! But for some reason everyone ADORES her. Then the moment happend, Brandon asked me to be his lab partner! I started investigating in my notebook during science. I drew what I saw in the microscope. They turned out to actually be little pieces of lint! I embarrassed myself AGAIN! The Halloween dance is coming up and I REALLY hope Brandon askes me. I have two friends, Chloe and Zoey. They have secret crushes also, Jason and Ryan. Will Jason and Ryan ask Chloe and Zoey to the dance? Will Brandon ask me to the dance? You should go get this book and find out more of my CRAZY lifestyle and find out who gets asked to the dance. Will it be me? Will it be Chloe? Will it be Zoey?

In Dork Diaries: Tales From a Not-So-Talented Pop Star By Rachel Renee Russell, Nikki is trying to win the WEC talent show for two reasons.  First, Nikki Maxwell is not the smartest kid in the school, but with the prize money from the talent show, Nikki can pay off her tuition bill without her parents finding out.  Secondly, Nikki really wants to beat her worst enemy, Mackenzie!! Nikki is joining some of her casual friends Violet, Theodore, and Brandon and they are going to attempt to be playing in a band.  Nikki is so excited for this because her crush, Brandon is actually playing the drums. Brandon surprised Nikki because her band really needed more members. Nikki is really dreading the talent show because she hurt her best friends, Chloe and Zoey’s feelings.  Nikki tried to join an act with them but chickened out before they found out. Chloe and Zoey have now joined an act with Mackenzie and Nikki wants to apologize. Chloe and Zoey are the best dancers in the school and they’re doing a dancing act with Mackenzie. Nikki is scared that she will lose and have to tell her family about her tution bill?  Will Nikki win and not tell her parents

The Trials of Apollo by Rick Riordan

The God Apollo has found himself falling. He lands in a dumpster in New York.  Two thugs beat him up. He doesn’t know how that is possible because he is a God.  He soon finds out that his father, Zeus, is punishing him because Zeus thinks it was Apollo’s fault when Gaea woke.  This girl named Meg comes into the alley, she beats the thugs up. Apollo tells her about how he usually gets punished. Usually a demigod comes and claims his service and he has to follow their orders. Meg decides to claim his service.  He knows that he has to get her to camp Half-Blood; a demigod camp. He decides to have his friend Percy Jackson take him and Meg to Camp Half-Blood. They are followed by ghosts. Percy decides to go off-road to avoid the spirits but they follow them.  They get out of the car and battle the spirits. But they are spirits that cannot be killed so they have to escape. Police arrive. The ghosts decide to leave for no reason at all. Apollo thinks it is strange. Apollo and Meg escape and Percy talks to the police. When they reach camp Half-Blood the activities director, Chiron tells them that the Oracle of Delphi has been retaken by it’s old, evil master, Python.  Now they can’t get prophecies. So they have to find the other Oracle the Oracle of Dodona. Apollo goes on a quest with Meg to find the Oracle of Dodona. Oracle are things that give people prophecies. Prophecies can foretell the future. Apollo thinks that the oracle is in the enchanted forest because the forest has been acting strange. He goes in the maze and meets a river god. Apollo convinces the river god to tells him how to get to the Oracle of Dodona.  They have to go through a Myrmekes (giant killer ants) nest. Meg gets captured by Myrmekes and they bring her to their nest. Apollo goes out and searches for her. He finds out that he can make the myrekes sleep by singing. He finds meg. They get out of the myrmekes nest safely. Outside next to the oracle he sees the evil emperor Nero. Apollo finds out that Nero is Meg’s stepfather. She had led him there so that Nero could kill him. Meg had betrayed him! He needs to stop them. Can he? Read the book to find out.       

In the book Otis written by Loren Long the main character is a tractor.  His name is Otis.  He lives on a beautiful farm with cows and a lot of other animals.  He drives around the farm. Otis even drives over humongous hay bales!  I don’t think tractors really do that but I liked the picture in the book.  He’s friends with the calf. Otis is not a new tractor, in fact he is an old tractor.  He’s not as powerful as new tractors. The Yellow Tractor is delivered to the farm. The Yellow Tractor is there to replace Otis.  Read the book to find out more.

Tractors, fun and silly books, farm life, friendship, farms, humor

Outliers

In Outliers, you can learn how in order to be successful, you not only need hard work, but you need to have lots and lots of luck. You can learn why some people are short-tempered, and why some people aren’t. You can learn what causes plane crashes, and why Asians are so good at math. You can learn that some people have disadvantages, with things as small as their birth date. An outlier is “a person or thing differing from all other members of a particular group or set.” this means that they are unique. The school you go to as a kid can help give you advantages, that will help you have success. Success doesn’t come with just luck, but you must seize your opportunity and work hard. You can learn about the 10,000 hour rule, and how long and hard the road to success is.

Non-Fiction, Math, Cultural, Statistics, Social Science