The Beacon Street Girls: Book 1: Worst Enemies / Best Friends

The Beacon Street Girls: Book 1: Worst Enemies / Best Friends

By Annie Bryant

Summary:

Charlotte Ramsey and her dad have been moving around the world over the past couple of years, but this time they are settling down for the long haul. They are moving back to Brookline, Charlotte's birth place, and her mother's burial place.

When Charlotte and her dad arrive in their new home -- a huge, old, bright yellow mansion --  Charlotte is fascinated by it and wants to know more about it.  But her landlady, Ruby, told Charlotte not to go poking her head around every corner of the house...

Having just come from Paris in France, Charlotte doesn't have a clue about fitting in on her first day of school. Before she knows it, she's zipping the cafeteria tablecloth into her jeans, and is embarrassing herself in front of every student at the school, including the food-spattered girls who soon become her new worst enemies: Avery, Katani and Maeve.

To fix her relationship with Avery, Katani and Maeve, Charlotte invites them all over for a sleepover and they all, strangely, accept Charlotte's invitation. When the three girls arrive, they too are fascinated by the house. When the girls find a trap door in the house they want to know even more about the house and its history.  The only way to do that is by going on an adventure together...

This is the story of four girls brought together by a house, a landlady, a dog and an adventure...

Review:

I started to read the Beacon Street Girls series when I was about nine years old and finished the series around my tenth birthday, but I think the great plots mean the series can be enjoyed by any tween up to the age of about thirteen. The author, Annie Bryant, creates great stories with a mix of friendship and mystery. I loved how in Worst Enemies / Best Friends Maeve, Katani, Avery and Charlotte try to solve the mystery of the trap door and the old house individually, but they are eventually forced to work together to solve the mystery. Being forced to work together creates tension between all of the girls and it adds elements of betrayal and fighting to the story. These tensions make the story a lot more interesting to read and make the book become a page turner.

I can definitely related to Charlotte as a character. We have both lived in and explored Paris, and we both know what it feels like to be the new girl and to do a big move. I think that having a character in a book who you can relate to is comforting for the reader, because they know that there are other people like them in the world. Every tween can find a girl in the book that they can relate to. There is Avery, the smart and sporty animal lover; Katani, the creative fashionista and inspiring model; Maeve, the bubbly, dyslexic redhead and inspiring actress; and finally, Charlotte, the traveler, klutz and writer.

This is the perfect book for tweens who are trying to learn how to be a good friend and are preparing to become teenagers.

Recommended for any tween age 11+ 

240 pages

P.S. Happy Leap Day to all of my Bookworms and their families! I hope that you are enjoying this extra day in the year!

-Gia

IT'S OUR 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!!

HAPPY 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY BOOKWORMS! WE DID IT!!!

HAPPY 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF BLOGGING BOOKWORMS!!! I am so happy to have accomplished this much (with all of your help, love and support of course)! I have learned many things while writing this blog and will continue to blog until I am certain that I have convinced tweens all around the world to read and to open themselves up to new styles of books! Now, I won't write an extremely long and boring account of everything that I have learned in the past year, but I will just bring your up to date on me, and my tweenage life!

Favorite Book: A Brief History of Montmaray - By Michelle Cooper

Favorite Author(s): Wendy Mass - Ally Carter

Favorite Series: The Gallagher Girls - By Ally Carter

Favorite Thing(s) To Do: Travel - Read

Energizing Song: Hit The Lights - Selena Gomez & The Scene

Before I end my post, I want to first mention the cupcake in the photo at the top of the page. That cupcake is a 'Diva' cupcake which I bought from CUPCAKES VANCOUVER, which is the best place in the world to buy cupcakes!
I know that this blog is all about books but just this once I am going to tell you some things that I have learned throughout my experience of life and as a blogger...

Life is like a song, when the music changes, YOU, just keep on dancing...

Life is a ride, so plug in your music, turn it up to the max, and enjoy every single minute of your life.

I hope that I inspire you just as you inspire me to spread my love of books!

Love and many thanks for your help with this wonderful achievement,  

-Gia

P.S. If you want to win a couple of books from my 'Top 10 Books' list please e-mail me by clicking on the little letter underneath 'Contact Me' on your right, or by leaving me a comment in the 'Bookworm Comments' sections at the bottom of every page! Thanks!

The Cardturner

The Cardturner 

By Louis Sachar

Summary:

Alton Richards's summer is looking pretty bad. His now ex-girlfriend, Katie, just dumped him for his best friend, Cliff. He has no money. His dad lost his job. His parents need money to finish installing their new pool. And to make things worse Alton is forced to drive his extremely wealthy Uncle Lester to Lester's bridge tournaments four days a week.

Alton wants absolutely nothing to do with his Uncle Lester, especially because Alton knows that his mother is making Alton drive Lester to bridge tournaments just so that it will look like Alton cares about his 'dear Uncle Lester' and will make Lester want to give his money to Alton's family.

Unknown to Alton and his family, there is another family, the Castanedas, also fighting for Uncle Lester's inheritance...

Before he knows it, Alton is discovering family secrets of betrayal and backstabbing between the Castanedas and the Richards, Alton is playing bridge with Toni Castanedas, Alton is fighting for his Uncle's inheritance, and he is being taught that life is just like a game of bridge...

Welcome to a world of discovery, betrayal, confusion and romance...

Review:


The Cardturner is the third book that I have read by Louis Sachar and it is probably the most difficult, but at the same time most interesting book that I have read by this author.

It was difficult to read because, in the middle of every chapter Alton stopped the story and explained to the reader what he learned that day during his game of bridge. The author clearly wanted to make us read a great book, and at the same time learn how to play bridge.  I found the plot so confusing that it was hard to do both. The plot was confusing, but addictive, because it was such a good puzzle.   It was very hard to concentrate on both, so in the end, I just put my mind to the plot, and that was the right thing to do...

The book has a great plot and timeline. I liked how Sachar (author) took us to the past so we could see what happened between the Castanedas and the Richards. It gave us a break from Alton playing bridge, and him explaining to us what he had learned.

The Cardturner isn't a page turner, but it is a book that, forces the reader, after every chapter, to take thirty seconds to think about the chapter.  I think it is good to read books like that every once in a while, because we all need to read something that will make us think and try to understand what is going on in a book or in life.

The last thing that I want to say about The Cardturner is that whenever Toni and Alton are together, they bring a very comedic side to the story. There was always something or someone to laugh at when they were together. I think the story's humour made the story very enjoyable to read, because it made the story seem less bridge-serious!

The Cardturner was a fun and interesting book to read, which I recommend to girls in their late tweens and early teens.

336 pages