Rowan Hood- Outlaw group of Sherwood Forest

Rowan Hood
4 out of 5
Genre folktale
Author Nancy Springer
Review by Belinda

After Calendine( Rosemary's mother) dies, Rosemary is left orphaned with only a gimmal ring, and thirteen years of memories. With nothing left she turns to her last chance of hope and survival, her father, Robin Hood. In search of her father, she leaves what's left of her home to his camp. On the way, she meets a loyal and faithful companion, whom saves her life more than once, as well as a poor minstrel. With all the good, she also makes an evil archenemy, and discovers her roots. After meeting Robin, Ro doesn't know whether or not he really is her father. At the end of the tale, Ro recruits 2 new members for the gang, and finds Robin in Grave danger.

My opinion of Rowanhood, is that it is an amazing book of a girl trying to discover her roots and where she belongs. I think it's great because not only does it portray the feelings of a girl who is meeting someone who claims is her father, but she has never met him. I like how it reviewed her family story and showed different types of view. I thought the friendships fit perfectly, and were sort of original, but I liked how each character backed each other up, and worked together in times of needs. I would prescribe this book to anyone who likes fast-paced, action, and family books. Also I think this book is very emotional and descriptive.

Nancy Springer has written 40 books of fantasy and fiction for young adults. Some titles include a series of Rowan Hood books and the Sea King series and Book of Isle series. She is currently a professor of creative writing at York college. She loves horses and includes them in a lot of her stories. She often visits elementary, Middle, and High School classes.

Hatchet Comparison:by Peter Burroughs

Similarities

For starters, between the Hatchet book and the Hatchet movie, a good similarity is that they both have a hatchet in them. Also, they both have the same basic story:Brian going to dad on plane, pilot has heart attack, Brian gets lost in wilderness, Brian survives until he gets rescued. The Secret has the same basic story too:Brian's mom goes out with this blond guy, and the dad divorces. In the book and the movie, Brian also makes and discovers the same things, like the spear, the bow, the shelter, the fire, etc. An finally, the animals are the same too, Brian meets a bear, wolves, foolbirds, and fish.

Differences

A good difference between the Hatchet book and the Hatchet movie is that the book is called Hatchet, but the movie is called A Cry in the Wild. Starting at the beginning of the story, in the book, the pilot talks to Brian very little, but in the movie, the pilot talks to Brian a lot. Then, right after the crash, in the book, Brian builds a shelter, while in the movie, he builds it wayyy after the crash. The foods Brian has in the book are "gut cherries,"raspberries, turtle eggs, fish, and fool birds, while in the movie he has "puke berries," raspberries, worms, fish, and foolbirds. The big bad animals that either attack or invade Brian's shelter in the book are a skunk, a porcupine, a bear, wolves, and an insane moose, while in the movie, he saw a raccoon, a porcupine, a bear, and wolves. About the bear in the book, the bear was a normal creature just trying to get it's berries, and it didn't appear more than once,while in the movie, the bear was a savage animal that was stalking Brian repeatedly and eventually got itself killed. The wolves in the book were just the same and only appeared once, but in the movie, the wolves appeared many times. When Brian tries to go to the plane in the book, Brian makes a raft and paddles to the plane, while in the movie, he rides a log to get to the plane. And when Brian drops his hatchet in the lake and goes to get it, the water is crystal clear in the movie, but it was muddy and dark in the book. In the book, a big tornado hit Brian's shelter, but in the movie, one gust of wind came and blew down the shelter. Also, Brian makes a lot of random comments, unlike in the book, where he doesn't say much. An example of a random comment would be "I am a being of higher intelligence. You have entered my domain. Prepare to die!"(He's talking to a berry when he says that!) And finally, in the book, the only swear word that is used is the D. word, but in the movie, there are the swear words D, H, S, and S.O.B. And about the Secret, in the book Brian just sees lots of quick scenes, but in the movie, most of the action seems to happen on the Fourth of July.(Hence the fireworks.)

My Opinion

My opinion on the Hatchet book was I liked the book a lot, because of how Brian invents things, because of the adventure, and because of how Brian has his ups and his downs. The movie, on the other hand, seemed very strange, primarily because I had already read the book, but I liked it because of Brian's totally random comments and when he dances with the bear!

December Book Review by Rebecca Reisberg

Title: The Outsiders
Author: S.E. Hinton
Rating: ***** (5\5)

The Outsiders is about Ponyboy Curtis and his brothers Sodapop and Darrel (Darry). Yes, those are their real names. They are part of a gang called the Greasers who are the poor boys and from the East Side. They are rivals against the Socials or Socs the rich kids, from the West Side. Everything goes on as normal: Socs jumping (beating up) the Greasers until one night. Soon everything changes and grades go from A's to F's and Ponyboy goes from eating like a horse to everything tasting like baloney. Will things ever be the same for Ponyboy?

I think this book was awesome! It is an good example of friendship. It shows that you don't have to be rich to have good friends, good grades and a good life. It shows how brothers stick together and don't let anything split them up. Even though they drink, smoke, steal, and wear too much hair grease, they are good kids deep down. I have learned a lesson from this book: You don't have to have everything, even nothing at all to be happy.

December Book Review

Title: Spirit Walker
Book By: Michelle Paver
Review By: Samantha Hudson
Rating:**********(10/10)
Genera: Fiction

In this book a boy named Torak of the Indian wolf clan goes through physical and mental challenges. Accompanied only by wolf (the wolf) and Renn (of the raven clan) he must save the clans from death. To do this he must find a cure to a deathly illness cased by a group of evil wizards called the soul Eaters.

To find the cure he goes to the seal clan island which is said to have the cure. In the seal clan he is at first unwelcomed but then starts to settle in. Just after he settles in thought he find enemies in his friend and that he is something more then everyone else.

I think that this is a very good book because it's well wrighter and carefully planned. Also the wrighter is very descriptive and she uses different words like moon means month. I guess it's also just the kid of book I like to read with suspense adventure and so on. It's a very good book and if you like adventure and stuff like that I would advise you to read it.