Liars and Spy By Rebecca Stead

This book is about a boy named Georges (the "s" is silent) who moves to another house and finds a sign that says "Spy Club."  His father writes, "What time?" and when he comes back down to the lobby in his new hotel, there is another piece of paper on the board that says, "3:30."  In this club, there are two people: Safer and Cherry.  When he joins, Safer says to him that there is an evil guy that is named Mr. X living above Georges apartment and Safer ask Georges to spy on him.  When Safer goes too far, Georges wonders whether he is doing the right thing. 

My Rating: 8 owls (out of 10)

Where I've Been...

I've read 32 books since I posted last!  These included the rest of the Warriors Series (almost 24 books after the first series), Ella Enchanted, The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series, Shiloh and the Birchbark House. The last few we listened to in the car.

These are all really good books! The Warriors series is one of the best series I've read.  It includes lots of adventure and fun.  I'm sad that the series is over, but there are lots of new good books in the world. 

Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series

The Percy Jackson and Olympian series (by Rick Riordan) is about a boy named Percy Jackson who figures out he is a demigod (half god, half human) and comes to a camp called Camp Half Blood.  At the camp, the Camp Director is Dionysus (god of wine) and there are twelve cabins of campers, one for each god.  At the camp, Percy Jackson meets a girl named Annabeth that he likes.  The two of them battle monsters together and go on quests.  He also meets a boy named Grover (half man, half goat) who also goes on a quest.

In this series, there are five books. There is another series named Heroes of Olympus that has three books now. Mark of Athena is coming out today.

This is my favorite series in the whole world. I hope you'll like it too.

My Rating:  10 owls (out of 10)

The First Warriors Series

My favorite character in the Warriors Series is Firepaw, Fireheart and Firestar (these are all the same cat).  In a clan there are usually three stages of life: Kit, then Apprentice (a cat that is training to be a Warrior with a mentor), then Warrior.  Firepaw wasn't a Kit in a clan because he was a kittypet while he was a Kit. A kittypet is a cat who lives with two legs (a person).  He also was a Firestar because he was a leader and a deputy.  In the stages of life, you get different names.  As a kit, a cats name ends with kit. As an apprentice, your name ends with paw.  As a warrior, your name ends with a word that describes you.  As a leader, which most cats don't get to be, your name ends with star.  As a deputy, which most cats also don't get to be, your name ends with your warrior name.

I love Fireheart because he has a lot of courage in battles and he never gives up.  For example, when the Bloodclan attacked in the 6th book in the series, he killed Scorge, their leader.  He believed that all the cats would run away because their leader died and he was right. As a leader, Fireheart had been given nine lives from Starclan (the cats that died that live in the sky).  You get nine gifts to go with the lives and one of his gifts was courage.  He is much braver than his other clan mates. 

I'm planning to read all of the books in all of the Warriors Series.  The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan is coming this week!

My Rating: 8 owls (out of 10)

Warriors: Into the Wild by Erin Hunter

This book is about four clans of wild cats: Thunder clan, Shadow clan, River clan, and Wind clan. The last clan, where the cats go when they die, is Star clan.  This is up in the sky although the other ones are down below on the earth.  Firepaw is the main character.  He lives in Thunder clan with his friend Greypaw.  Firepaw used to be a kittypet (a pet of a person).  How will he get used to some cats bullying him around, especially Tigerclaw, a fierce warrior? 

If you want to read this book, you have to get used to some cats dying.  There's usually about two battles in each book.  In the first book, two cats die.  I love this book.  I put it in my list of my favorite books.  There are thirty eight books altogether but six in the first series. 

My Rating: 8 owls (out of 10)

Interviewed George O'Connor

I just interviewed George O'Connor, author of the Olympian series.  Here are the questions and answers.

-What is your favorite Greek myth?

Ooh, tough question. I might have to go with the story of Zeus versus Typhon. It explains the Greek's ideas of how the Egyptian gods came to be, has a cool fight between Zeus and a humungous hundred headed monster, has the return of the sickle and Kronos, and features two of my favorite gods, Hermes and Pan, saving the day.

-What was your process for writing/illustrating the books?

First thing I do is I read a lot, anything I can find that deals with the god or goddess I am writing the book about. A rule I follow is that I do not read any modern retellings of the myths- I only use source material that was written by ancient Greeks and Romans, or anyone who really believed in the gods way back when. It helps me prevent accidentally copying someone else's ideas of how to tell a story, and normally reading the really old versions of the myths reveals some weird and crazy details that get left out of modern versions.

After I read a bunch, I start drawing ideas of how scenes will look-- I call this key-scening. I draw a whole bunch of sketches, and after I have a pretty good idea of how things might look, I assemble the drawings into little page-sketches called thumbnails. I make sure the composition of each panel and page works, make sure there will be room for the text (I start writing and sketching each volume of the Olympians at the same time, since the words and pictures have to work so closely together in a graphic novel), make sure the story flows, etc..

Then I draw the thumbnails up bigger, in what we call a dummy, which is basically a blueprint for the book, which I use to write the final script for the art and show my editor. Finally, I draw the finished artwork, color it in with my computer and we add the text to the art. Then it goes to the printer and comes to the readers.

For a more detailed look at my process, check out this link at the Olympians website http://www.olympiansrule.com/process/writing.html
It has many photos, including several funny shots of me with a beard.

-Who is your favorite Greek god/goddess?

My favorite god is Hermes, and my favorite goddess is Hera.

-Do you like writing or drawing better?

I like them both, but I have to say that I find drawing to be the easier of the two. Because writing is harder for me, when I write something that I think came out pretty good, I get a lot of satisfaction from it.

-What were your favorite books when you were younger other than Greek myths?

I really loved books like Where the Wild Things Are and Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day. I also really loved the Prydain Cycle by Lloyd Alexander, which is based on Welsh mythology.

-What plans do you have for other books?

Well, Olympians is going to be 12 books in all, with the next one out being Poseidon, and I'm working on book 6, Aphrodite right now. I also am working on a picture book about a little girl and her pet Velociraptor, and a few other projects as well. I try to stay busy ;)

-If you were to create your own Greek god, what would it be like?

When I was in 5th grade I did create some modern Greek gods-- there was a god of computers and a god of atomic energy, among others. Nowadays I figure rather than create new gods for things that didn't exist back then, the old Greek gods would probably just have picked up new jobs. Hermes or Athena might be good gods of the computer, and I can see Hephaistos being a good choice for god of atomic energy.

Olympians Rule

George O'Connor's Olympians Series
Zeus: Kind of the Gods; Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory; Athena: Grey-eyed Goddess; Hades: The Wealthy One

George O'Connor is an author who wrote some Greek myths.  I was reading one of the Greek myth books and dad said,  "I had a friend named George O'Connor and realized that it was his friend in high school.  These books are about some old Greek myths about Athena, Zeus, Hera, and Hades.  These books are graphic novels.  I loved these books and I hope you enjoy them. Have you ever read a graphic novel?

My Rating: 8 owls (out of 10)

Exciting News!

The daughter of the author of Sisters Eight wrote back! She helped write the book with her mother.
Here are her answers! 

1. Who is your favorite character in the Sisters Eight?
Honestly my favorite is Rebecca. I love her craziness. :)

2. What was your favorite book when you were my age?
My favorite book when i was about seven or eight (yet it was mature for my age) was called The Secret Order of the Gumm Street Girls by Elise Primavera. I absolutely loved it. You should all check it out!

3. What was your favorite evil character in the Sisters Eight?
My favorite evil character was Serena.I loved when she locked the girls up in her house. It might be just me, but I thought it was hilarious.

4. Are you thinking of writing a 10th one?
We would really like to but it depends on if you guys read more of them! So read more!!!

5. If you could have a power that one of the Sisters Eight has, which one would you choose? 
If I had a power of one of the sisters eight, it'd have to be to turn invisible like Georgia. I'd love it.

The Sisters Eight

The Sisters Eight is an amazing series about eight girls whose parents disappear on New Year's Eve.  The eight girls find a mysterious letter in a crack in the wall telling them that they each will have a power and when everybody gets their power, they will be able to find their parents.

Here's something about each character.
Annie: a girl who thinks she is always in charge
Durinda: a sweet girl who always helps Petal
Georgia: a grumpy girl who thinks bad thoughts about Petal
Jackie: a girl who helps everybody out and has a huge vocabulary
Marcia: a smart girl who loves reading books
Petal: a girl who is afraid of everything
Rebecca: a scary girl who thinks she is a villain
Zinnia: a girl who thinks she can talk to animals

My Rating: 9 owls (out of 10)

I wrote an e-mail to the authors of the Sisters Eight. Here is the e-mail that I wrote.

Dear Ms. Baratz-Logsted:
Hi. My name is Sarah. I'm seven years old and I really want to interview you for my blog.  I just started a blog about the books I read and I love your Sisters Eight series.  I was so excited that there was as 9th one and I hope there is a tenth one! My blog address is athenareadsbooks.blogspot.com.  I hope you like my blog!

Here are my questions. I would love for you or Jackie to answer them.

1. Who is your favorite character in the Sisters Eight?
2. What was your favorite book when you were my age?
3. What was your favorite evil character in the Sisters Eight?
4. Are you thinking of writing a 10th one?
5. If you could have a power that one of the Sisters Eight has, which one would you choose?
I hope you are able to answer these questions!

Thank you,
Sarah

Guest Post: Zoe reviews Felicity!

Felicity Merriman lived in a house with her mother and father and brother and sister.  Felicity is ten and her brother is three and her sister is six.  She has a friend named Elizabeth and I imagine she is nine and a half.  Annabelle, Elizabeth's sister, is really, really bossy, but she has a class with Elizabeth and Felicity.  She lived a long, long time ago in Williamsburg.

The story is about Mr. Nye and Penny, his new horse.  She is trying to rescue Penny because Mr. Nye is really mean to her and Penny.  Felicity's father has a general store.  They sell all sorts of things.



Governor Dunmore stole gunpowder from the magazine. A magazine looks like a castle and they keep gunpowder in it.  He was worried that the king of England would lose so they wanted to steal it for the king.

Felicity's grandfather gived Felicity a lamb and they called the lamb Posie because he went in the Posie flowers. 


There are six Felicity books and I read all of them.  I'm going to Williamsburg.  Have you gone to Williamsburg? What does it look like?

Book Recommendations Needed!

Can you please tell me some of your favorite books that you read when you were 8-12?  Please explain what it's about and your favorite parts.  I'll make a deal with you: if you give me a book recommendation, I'll give you more recommendations like it! 

The Long Lost Map, Ulysses Moore Book # 2

By Pierdomenico Baccalario 
"Jason, Julia, and Rick have crossed through the door of time." This is the first sentence on the back of book #2.  In this book, Jason, Julia and Rick are transported to Ancient Egypt (in the land of Punt).  Unfortunately, Julia gets startled by a wall falling down and ran back into the Door of Time into Argo Manor!  The others stay in Ancient Egypt and don't go back through the door.  In the Diary of Ulysses Moore, Jason and Rick find a riddle: "To get your bearings you will need good fortune and lucky stars.  Seek out the map in the tower under the four wands."  Jason and Rick are eager to get the map, but beware, Olivia Newton (the person who is trying to take over Argo Manor) is trying to find the map too.

Bad news: Books 5-12 are not translated into English!  

My Rating: 8 owls (out of 10)

Ulysses Moore The Door to Time, Book #1

By Pierdomenico Baccalario 
This is the first book in the Ulysses Moore series.  There are twelve books in the series.  

In this book there are three main characters.  One is named Jason.  He is an adventurous and daydreaming boy.  His sister's name is Julia. She is the exact opposite of Jason.  She does not believe in ghosts. She is fast and athletic.  Rick is the third character.  He is the most athletic of the group.  He loves to run around play on bikes.  He is really strong and fast.

This story is about something mysterious going on in Argo Manor (the place where they live).  Their mom and dad have gone out and the caretaker Nester is taking care of them.  They discover a hidden door.  When they got through the door they find lots of adventures.  They find the diary of Ulysses Moore, the person who used to live at Argo Manor.  Their adventures take them to a cave that is under the house which leads them to many other adventures. 

This book is in between scary and not scary.  I am reading Book Two.

My Rating: 7 owls (out of 10) 

Favorite Books I've Read

You can now see the books I have been reading in the sidebar!

Sisters Grimm

The Sisters Grimm

By Michael Buckley

I knew I was going to like this book before I began it. My uncle Paul gave it to me and I knew my friends Rain and Skylar were reading it.  I had just finished The Land of Stories by Chris Colfer and The Heroes Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy (given to me by Peter).  All these books were about people in or falling into fairy tales.

The Sisters Grimm is about two girls whose names are Delphina and Sabrina Grimm who find themselves turned into fairy tail detectives. This first book is a book full of adventure and love.  Sabrina and Delphina Grimm are being taken to their grandmother who their father said was dead.  Their grandmother and Mr. Canis, the butler, are taken by a giant and Sabrina and Delphina find themselves involved in the mystery. 

In this series there are nine books. I'm on book number five.  The books keep getting scarier.  I totally recommend you read these books.

My Rating: Nine Owls (out of ten)