Dear Mr. Henshaw

My Take:

Dear Mr. Henshaw is a book about a young boy who writes letters to his favorite author. The author shows how a young boy's mind is, how a young boy writes, and the mixed feelings of having divorced parents. I find a few flaws in the book, such as the fact that none of the the author's replies are shown in the book, so you don't get the context of the boy's next letter. However, the book gives a good perspective of different people's lives.

My rating: 3 out of 10

The Whipping Boy

My Take:

The Whipping Boy is a book about a Whipping boy and a prince. The author very well portrays how easy life is for the Prince and how tough it is for the whipping boy and other commoners. The author does a good job of showing what a prince's thoughts are like, and also what the whipping boy's thoughts are like. Also, the book shows how people in medieval times lived. The two highwaymen who took the boys hostage did not have very good characters though.

My rating: 5 out of 10


In case you were wondering:

In the medieval times, some kings had laws that the prince was not to be
whipped, slapped, beaten, etc. What they did is to bring a common boy, and whip him whenever the prince misbehaved.

Bridge to Terabithia

My Take:

Bridge to Terabithia is a book about friendship.  The two main characters, Jess Aaron, and Leslie Burke are both very imaginative kids and create a kingdom called Terabithia. The book is a good combination of regular life - school, friendship, family, etc. and also of kids imagination. However, I do 

not think that the author gives you the feel of being in the kingdom.

Actually at first, I expected that Terabithia would either actually be a real kingdom that magically appears, or that it would all be a dream. It turned out that Jess and Leslie pretended that Terabithia existed. They use a dog as a guardian, a rope to swing onto as the entrance to Terabithia, and making a "castle" out of wooden boards. 

My rating: 6 out of 10