student blog post for Silver Birch Book

Cat Found
Ingrid Lee
Chicken House

For Silver Birch I read the book Cat Found. It is about a boy named Billy who lives in a town that is infested with stray cats. Billy’s dad hates them so when Billy adopts one from the street it’s not going to be easy to hide him. Throughout the story Billy runs into some obstacles with the cat. Can Billy hide the cat from his dad?

My thoughts on the book are that it was an okay book. I didn’t like it that much, but it was a book to read. For me it was an easy read it wasn’t tough. The author wrote another book like Cat Found, I wouldn’t love to read it.

If I had to recommend the book I recommend the book to people who like books with animals and for people who just need a book to read. I wouldn’t read it again. I also

e-mailed the author, I haven’t received anything back yet.

By Logan

student blog post

Making Bombs for Hitler
Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch
Scholastic

This book tells the story of Lida, a fictional young Ukrainian girl, who is captured by the Nazis to be used for slave labor shortly before her ninth birthday. Lida's father was killed by the Soviets, and her mother was shot by the Nazis for attempting to hide their Jewish neighbors. After that, Lida and her beloved younger sister, Larissa, went to live with their grandmother, where they were captured by the Nazis. The girls were separated, with Lida being sent to a work camp. Lida is devastated, as she doesn't know what happened to her sister, her only remaining family, and she fears she might have been harmed or killed because she is too young to work.

The work conditions at the camp are awful. Lida lies about her age, hoping she will be seen as someone more useful, and therefore, be kept alive. There is never enough food and everyone is cold and hungry. Lida is lucky, because she is given a good position working in the laundry, which is clean and warm, but, after a few months, she is forced to go work in a factory, making bombs for the Nazis. Lida hates having to help the Nazi war effort, because if they win, she will never be free again.

With rumours of the Allies turning the tide in the war, Lida and her friends conspire to sabotage the bombs to help block the Nazis’ war effort. When her work camp is finally set free, she is able to begin her search to learn the fate of her sister.o

I like this book because it is short but is filled with detail, wonder and excitement. It is a thriling journey to escape from the nazis. It keeps you wanting to read more, and is a book that you can’t let go of. 

by Dibbo

student blog post about Silver Birch book

Tinfoil Sky
Cyndi Sand-Eveland
Tundra Books

Tinfoil sky is about a girl named Mel and her mom named Cecily. Mel's mom doesn't have a lot of money so they have to live with her boyfriend. When Cecily and her boyfriend get in  a fight Cecily decides to go and live her mom Gladys .When Gladys won't let them stay with her they are forced to live out of their Pinto. When Cecily gets taken away from Mel and the Pinto is gone Mel has to live with Gladys.

This novel made me appreciate my family. I am so lucky to have two brothers that love me and if I were in trouble I know they would help. Even though they don't always act like they love me I know they do .I think if Mel had a brother or sister would have been easier for her because they could help on each other when Cecily got taken away. I have never been in a situation that Mel has and I want to keep it that way.

I liked how the author use strong describing word when describing how Mel felt. I think the book would have been better if the author wrote it in Mel's point of view or if it was written like Mel's journal because i would have liked to hear Mel's feelings on what was going on from her point of view.

Overall I would rate this book an 8 because I think would had more emotion to it if it was written in Mel's eyes.

                                                                                                      Lexy 

more student bloggers about Silver Birch books

The Dead Kid Detective Agency
Evan Munday
ECW Press

This is from Ashly a Grade 6 student At Trillium Woods.

October Schwartz is only thirteen and has done more than you think. She befriended five dead kids that happen to live behind her backyard, had a cafeteria fight, crazy teachers, real estate meetings and amongst it all an insane investigation that might get October in a lot of trouble.

October is also in high school and she has a wild adventure trying to survive it and literally trying to survive is harder than you think. If you like Nancy Drew and other mystery stories I strongly recommend this book to you.  The point of view is by October, and it is an easy read. This book is a mystery by Evan Munday.  I liked how Evan kept me guessing at the end of each chapter and how the mystery unfolded.

Is this book your genre and are you curious enough to read it?

student guest blog about the Silver Birch winner

Making Bombs for Hilter
Marsha Forchuck Skrypuch
Scholastic

“Where I go, you go with me,” said Linda to her brother by soul. Linda lost her little sister after they got caught by the Nazis.  She spent days in a cart so cramped with kids that the air was hard to breath.

This book was an amazing book by Marsha Forchuck Skrypuch.  It was suspenseful and I learned a lot about the World War 2.  There were no editing mistakes that I caught. The only thing I didn’t like is that the book was very predictable. The author should have put something like “Linda opened the letter. It said that her little sister died in Germany because of a car hitting her.” Other than that it was amazing and now my favorite book ever!!!                                             

By Samantha D.

   

student blogger for Silver Birch

Neil flambe and the Crusader's Curse
Kevin Sylvester
Key Porter Books

by Mateo

I read the book Neil Flambé and the Crusaders Curse. I thought it was an amazing book for all ages to read. One of my favorite things that were in the book was how they had the Flambés from all different time periods from 1291 to 2013, that’s 712 years of family history! They told how the Flambés were at the top of their game but suddenly they lose all their will to cook.

The next best thing was the food. All of the food from Chez Flambés sounded amazing. Kevin was able to make me visualize the food he described.  I could see the food right on the dish and almost taste it. It was just so gourmet; I loved it.

The characters were pretty fun to read about.  I really liked to read about Neil Flambé who was the main character.  I liked how his personality was written; how he is an overachiever and way over his head about cooking. This is a very entertaining and very educational book for young readers to read. Kevin Sylvester is an amazing author. I recommend this to many.      

Student blogger about a Silver Birch book

The Shadows that Rush Past
Rachel Qitsualik
Inhabit Media

by Olivia

Well first off the entire introduction was beautiful. I loved how Rachel (the author) told about the Inuit people and their culture. It also highlights how the Inuit culture was affected by the government. 

Now in the first story Rachel talks about the old lady who kidnaps children. Well I found that very interesting e.g. how it unfolded. To me it just felt very natural like with the curse and bunting. I also liked how Rachel explained everything I was always able to make a picture in my head. 

In the second story, about the black bear people, I thought it related most to what I thought Inuit's folktales would be like. What reminded me was how the man tricked the she-ahkla. Now since I don't want to ruin the surprise all I will say is he connected with the earth. 

With the third story I thought it was more boring than the other stories because this story felt too fake to me than the others.  I could see it happening but this one I couldn't visualize clearly.

Well our last story was very scary (mahaha). I  think that it would be read to little kids as a scary story . I definitely felt this story was my favorite by a mile. 

All in all I loved the stories and not only could you see it happening in your head you could also imagine it happening right in front of you. 

That is what I thought of ……………………….The Shadows That Rush Past. 

Silver Birch reader student guest blogger

Missing
Becky Citra
Orca Books

Imagine moving constantly to a new school. That’s how Thea lived. She lived as the outsider looking in on life. After school she met her dad at his work. From the booth where she sat doing homework, she saw a man with a cowboy hat walking in. he walked up to Thea’s father and gave him a business card. They went to the guest ranch and accepted the job but didn’t move. They stayed at the guest ranch. Thea was helping Tully (the man with the cowboy hat) clean. While cleaning she found a guest book. In the guest book was a newspaper clipping. Thea was reading it and found out that there was a missing girl named Livia. That’s where the mystery began...

This is a phenomenal book by Becky Citra. It’s the best mystery book I’ve ever read. The book starts very quick. You don’t have to wait to get to the good parts. It also has a lot of surprises at the end. It is currently my favourite book. I would suggest you read it and if you like is you should also read “Never to Be Told.”

Shattika 

another great post by a Silver Birch reader

Duped
Andreas Schroeder
Annick Press

by Zakiy

Duped is an amazing book by Andreas Schroeder. There are eight true stories of people deceiving others mostly for money. I highly recommend this book for everyone.

One of the stories is about a broadcast that had been played on the radio and convinced people that Martians (aliens from Mars) are invading the world. Little did the people know this was just a play and the whole crisis was unnecessary! People freaked out and some went to the hospital because of heart attacks and others armed themselves and shot anything that looked like Martians for example, clouds or humans.  The people were just unaware that the whole thing was fake. After the havoc, Orson Wells said he was only making a good play and nothing was his fault.

I’m personally more interested in fantasy and  fiction books although I loved this book because it was so interesting. There was a lot of detail and the idea of the book made it very attention grabbing. Now I will read non-fiction more often because Duped got me hooked into it.

A student's Silver Birch blog post

Dragon Seer's Gift
Janet McNaughton
Harper Collins

By: Jessica.W.

Gwyn was like any average kid. He didn’t like school, not that he was any good at it. That was until the heritage fair gave his parents hope that he was doing better. It all happened when he picked up the key. He hunted with Maddie for hours and finally solved the mystery. As he stood by the lake, Gwyn looked and saw the silhouette that he loved so much fly away over the horizon. He suddenly felt tears stinging his eyes and a strong clenching pain in his chest. That was the last time he ever saw hermit as he plummeted through the surface of the frozen lake never to be seen again….

I thought that ‘Dragon Seer’s Gift’ was a well written book about a young boy learning what is really important in life. Gwyn learns the lesson of “if you love something let it go, and if it loves you it will come back. If it doesn’t come back it was never yours.” This book is filled with love, humor, and touching moments.