The Invisible Rules of the Zoe Lama by Tish Cohen

Zoe was one of those girls who were popular, but not mean. She liked to help her classmates, and soon all of them were asking her advice. Zoe liked this. She decided to have "clients". When a new girl comes to the school with a bad reputation, Zoe starts to train her, so that Maisie can become liked by all the girls in the school. Zoe is overrun by all her clients. Almost everyone in her grade is a client, and some older kids need Zoe's advice as well, not to mention Maisie, who is very difficult to train. Maisie's training starts out with a 100 word report on "What is a best friend". Zoe corrects Maisie's work and asks her to do a 50 word report on "What boy do you like, and why do you like him?" When Maisie's report gets out into the school, everyone hates her, and ignores her. Maisie is furious with Zoe. Not only does Maisie's training fall apart, but Zoe's own grandmother comes to pick her up from schools in footie pajamas!
Can Zoe fix Maisie's mess, and get her grandmother to stop embarrassing her??

This book was really good. The invisible rules of the Zoe Lama shows that even the Zoe Lama can't fix everyone.

Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink

Caddie Woodlwan is an eleven year old girl in America at the time when Abraham Lincoln was president. She has a mother, a father, and six older and younger brothers and sisters.
Caddie isn't like most girls in her time. When she should be learning how to sew, she's out in a field helping her brothers plow, and she would rather be outside than be cooking.
Caddie and her two brothers, Tom and Warren get into a lot of trouble, but have great adventures, including the time they played tricks on their posh, Boston cousin, Annabelle.
When the Woodlawn's beloved Old English Sheepdog, Nero, goes to live with their uncle, Caidde is hearbroken. Nero was her more than her best friend, and was always with her.
Caddie's indian friend, John lets her keep his dog while he goes away for a while, but John's dog just isn't the same as Nero.
When John comes back fron his journey to take his dog home, Nero finds his way back to the Woodlwans.

Caddie Woodlawn is a good book. It doesn't really have a clear conflict, but the book is still good.

The Old Meadow by George Selden

I really like this book. It's by the same author of The Cricket in Times Square. In the Old Meadow (Chester Cricket's home), there is this man, Mr. Budd. He's lived in the Old Meadow for pretty much his whole life. Mr. Budd has this dog Dubber. Dubber dog is friends with Chester Cricket, Simon Turtle, and Walter Water Snake. All of these animals live in or near Simon's pool. Mr. Budd loves the animals, and treats them very kindly.

One day everyone here's a beautiful voice! Dubber dog says it's a mockingbird that's been singing on Mr. Budd's roof for a couple days. Chester, Simon, Walter, and Dubber go to meet the mockingbird. The mockingbird's name is Ashley. Ashley mockingbird makes friends with Simon, Chester, Dubber, and Walter. Everything's going quite fine, until the animals find out that Mr. Budd's house is going to be knocked down, and Mr. Budd will have to go live in the city in a old person's home. The animals try to help, but end up making the situation worse.
How will the animals help? Will Mr. Budd's house be knocked down?

The Mysterious Benedict Society and The Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart

For the second time, Kate, Reynie, Sticky, and Constance are joined together by Mr.Benedict. This time, he has prepared them a scavenger hunt to test their talents. But before they start off, Rhonda gives them bad news; Mr.Benedict and Number Two have gone missing and it has to do with the horrible Mr.Curtain! As they follow the clues to try and save Mr.Bendedict and Number Two, they face Mr.Curtain's new helpers; Ten Men who have ten different ways to hurt you. Here's a part in the beginning:

"What if we come across a Ten Man?" Constance asked. "Don't worry about that," said Kate, with a dismissive wave of her hand. "We'll just need to keep an eye out for suits and briefcases-and, you know, be prepared to run for our lives." "Thank you," said Constance with a quaver in her voice. "That's ever so comforting." "A Ten Man probably wouldn't even notice us,"Reynie said. "Four children don't exactly look like a rescue team, you know." "Well, I suppose that's true," Constance said in a somewhat stronger voice, and Reynie smiled encouragely. He didn't quite believe what he'd just said-he suspected at least some of Mr.Curtain's henchmen would have heard about them. But Mr.Curtain, of all people, would hate to admit he'd been outsmarted by children, and it was possible he'd avoided mention of them. At any rate, Reynie thought it best to shore up Constance's courage, for he could tell she intended to come along regardless. Kate cracked her knuckles. "If we're going to do this we need to get started. Four days, the letter said, and we may need every minute." "So, what's the plan?" Sticky asked, putting away his polishing cloth and resetting his spectacles. If we're in agreement," Reynie said, "We'll go wherever these instructions lead us. Secretly, of course. The adults would never let us go now-not even if Rhonda and Milligan came with us." "Of course not," said Kate.
"we'll need to sneak out." "oh boy," said Sticky, who hadn't thought about this yet. "If a Ten Man doesn't kill me, my parents surely will." Reynie grimaced, imagining how Miss Perumal would react when she discovered he'd gone. He quickly forced the image out of his mind. "are we agreed, then" Kate asked. "Agreed" said Constance and Reynie. Sticky let out a breath. "Agreed." Everyone looked at the envelope then, wondering where in the world-and into what unknown dangers-it was to take them.

I loved this book a lot; more than the first one. This book has adventure, bravery, friendship all in one.

The Mysterious Bendedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

Four smart kids. One very dangerous mission. Reynie Muldoon, Sticky washington, Kate Wetherall, and Constance Contrairie are four of the last children to pass the test that Mr.Benedict tested them on. But now, as they face their enemies, Mr.Benedict's twin brother, Mr.Curtain and his crew, they are scared out of their wits. can Kate, Reynie, Sticky, and Constance stop Mr.Curtain before he does something horrible? Read this book to see how The Mysterious Benedict Sociiety proves that children can do anything.

Rules by Cynthia Lord

I loved this book because Catherine sounds a lot like me.

Catherine just wants to be normal. But that is just too big a wish if you have an eight year old little brother that has a serious case of Autism. When Catherine's new neighbors move in with a twelve year old like herself, she's so happy. But will Kristi like David, Catherine's brother even though he's sometimes wacky? And how will Catherine feel when a disabled kid from David's occupational therapy place asks her to a dance?
Read this FANTASTIC book and have a whole different understanding of families with disabled kids.

The Four Donkeys by Lloyd Alexander

Who likes picture books? I like to read picture books sometimes. Here's one that I really liked.


It's about a carpenter, baker, and a tailor. They all are getting ready to go to the town fair and sell there things. But before they go they make each other late. When they all are on there way to town all of thm end up riding in the fat bakers carriage. Then the donkey puklling about 200 cakes and pies, 3 people, in hot weather, bundles of shoes, got tired and lay down in the middle of the road! So the baker, tailor, and carpenter picked up the hot and tired donkey and put him in the carriage. What do you think they will do next?

Will they get to the fair in time?