A Short Book Review: Wreck This Journal by Keri Smith

Keri Smith is both a writer and illustrator.
Wreck This Journal was first published in the United States of America by Penguin Group (USA) in 2007 and was first published in Great Britain by Particular Books in 2010.
Altogether, there are 192 pages in the book.

Wreck This Journal is a an illustrated book that is aimed at anyone who has ever had trouble with starting, keeping or finishing a journal or even sketchbook of their own. Keri Smith has even dedicated this book to "perfectionists all over the world."

Once you turn over the first page inside, you are faced with a wonderful little warning sign written by the author which says the following: "Warning: During the process of this book you will get dirty. You may find yourself covered in paint, or any other number of foreign substances. You will get wet. You may be asked to do things you question. You may grieve for the perfect state that you found the book in. You may begin to see creative destruction everywhere. You may begin to live more recklessly."
Each page of Wreck This Journal is filled with prompts telling you how and encouraging you to really, well and truly destroy the entire book.

Overall, I absolutely loved being able to contribute to the book along with the other members of the class. I'd love a copy of my own!

Keri Smith's Official Website:
http://www.kerismith.com/

Wreck This Journal Flickr Group:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/how_to_wreck_a_journal

- Natasha Hicks

Days with My Father by Phillip Toledano

Days with My Father is a son's photo journal of his aging father's last years.

"Stories. We spend our whole lives telling them. About this, about that. About people. But some, some stories are so good we wish they'd never end. They're so gripping that we'll go without sleep just to see a little bit more. Some stories bring us laughter and sometimes they bring us tears. But isn't that what a great story does? Makes you feel? Stories that are so powerful, they really are with us forever." - Dustin Hoffman

My Book Review: Split By A Kiss by Luisa Plaja

This is about a girl who has never been popular before, until she moves to the USA. When she goes to her new school, she makes friends with the popular girls and the boy of her dreams notices her. Her and her new friends play a kissing game and the boy of her dreams, who's name is Jake, chooses her. She then has to choose between Jake and her friends so she then decides to split herself into the cool Josie who has a boyfriend, and Josie the nerd who still has her friends.
I have enjoyed reading this book although I have only got up to the third chapter as I am a fairly slow reader. I've liked reading about Josie and how she has had to split herself it two - each are so different you wouldn't believe that either are actually the same person! I like the way Luisa Plaja uses larger text in her books, unlike others as I find it harder reading books with smaller text. In general, I don't really like reading but this book has really got me interested for once.

By Maisie Dale

"We support the printed word in all its forms: newspapers, magazines, and of course books. We think reading on computers or phones or whatever is fine, but it cannot replace the experience of reading words printed on paper. We pledge to continue reading the printed word in the digital era and beyond."
- http://readtheprintedword.org/

Do you support the printed word?

The Difference Between Fiction and Non-Fiction

Fiction - Books that are made up but the author, or are not true are fictitious.

Non-Fiction - Books that are true, are about real things, people, events and places are non-fictitious.

Therefore, Non-Fiction is simply the opposite of Fiction.

13 Words by Lemony Snicket and Maira Kalman

The book was published on October 15th 2010 by HarperCollins Children’s Book Group.

Altogether, there are 37 pages in the book.

Overall, the plot was based around the following 13 words; bird, despondent, cake, dog, busy, convertible, goat, hat, haberdashery, scarlet, baby, panache, Mezzo Soprano.
The book began with a bird on a table, a bird that was despondent. Whilst going to look for something to cheer itself up, it came across a cake under the table and upon opening it, discovered that it was strawberry shortcake and then went on to share it with the dog. Once the cake was all eaten, the bird then went back to being busy painting eleven ladders in ten colours. Outside, was a green convertible driven by a goat that was waiting to take the dog into town. Knowing the bird was sad and the cake hadn't cheered the bird up, the dog decided to take matters into his own hands by aiming to go and find something to cheer her up. The goat suggested buying the bird a hat which turned out to be a great idea so they then went to go someplace to buy one. Arriving outside the haberdashery, the door was painted scarlet and the owner was a baby! In the end, the hat with the most panache was purchased and the bird was really very happy, so happy that the Mezzo-Soprano decided to sing about it all.

The setting of the story varied from it being set in a house, to a conversation held between the dog and goat whilst they were on their way to buy the bird a hat from the haberdashery where yet another conversation between more/different characters also took place.

The characters in the story were:

• A Bird that went from being despondent, to busy and then to finally being happy.
• A Dog that just wanted to do as much as he could to make the bird happy.
• A Goat that was the driver of a green convertible and also came up with the idea of buying the bird a hat.
• A Baby that was the owner of the haberdashery and helped the dog understand the meaning of the word panache.
• A Mezzo-Soprano who in the end sang a song about the events that took place.

In all honesty, the book really isn't the sort of book I would choose to read therefore I didn't really have a favourite part although I always tend to give a chance to anything that catches my eye as this did because of one of  its authors, Lemony Snicket who's 'Series of Unfortunate Events', I absolutely loved.

Despite the fact that I didn't exactly enjoy the book, I didn't hate it and I don't believe that there were any weak parts to the story either. What I found good was the fact that even though it seems to be a book aimed at children, and having it include words such as 'haberdashery', 'despondent', 'panache', and ’Mezzo Soprano', the authors clearly thought about their readers due to the fact that all words were somehow explained so they could then be a understood and their young readers were not left dumbfounded.
Overall, this book wasn’t one that I would find hard to put down.

How to write a book review.

Remember to think about the following notes:

When was the book published?: Skim the first few pages to find the date the book was published.

How many pages are there altogether?: You don't have to count them! Just look at the number on the final page.

The plot: This is what happens. To help you think about the main events, first draw a time line with the beginning scene of the book at the top of a piece of paper and the final scene at the bottom.
E.g. Write "Harry starts at Hogwarts" at the top and "Harry defeats Voldemort" at the bottom.

Now add a few events in the middle of the time line - ones which link the beginning and final scenes.

The setting(s): This is where and when the story takes place. E.g. At Hogwarts school of wizardry in the present day.

The characters: This is who is in the book. To help you describe the characters, first jot down these details:

• Name of character
• Role
• Adjective to describe them

For example:

• Harry Potter
• Schoolboy wizard
• Brave

Were there any highlights/What was your favourite part of the book?: This is where you describe your favourite part of the book. Was there a particular piece of action, description or characters' speech you really enjoyed?

Were there any weak bits?: Were there any chapters where you found yourself wishing for some action to liven up the plot? Any unrealistic characters? Any descriptions or chapters that you felt were ?

Was the book unputdownable?: Did you grab the book whenever you had a spare moment? Did you read it rather than playing computer games or watching TV? Or did you read the first chapter before letting it gather dust on your bookshelf?

Natasha Hicks
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/teachers/literacy_7_11/text/newsid_3881000/3881539.stm

Welcome!

Here is a blog pacifically created for the members of Step Up 3 to share their love (or hate) for books that they read and then go on to write reviews about.