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Wednesday, May 8, 2013

A Student Review of Juniper Berry

  Reviewed by Mia 
Author: M.P Kozlowsky
Published by Harper Collins
Publishing Date:  4/26/11
227 Pages
A Maine Student Book Award Book 2012-2013
    

Summary
Juniper Berry is a girl who has parents that do not really care about her anymore.  Juniper remembers when she was younger, before her parents became famous. Her parents never acted like this. Now, her parents are always yelling at her or ignoring her. Juniper is sad, very sad. One day Juniper goes out to play a game with her dog, Kitty. Kitty went into the woods to a very suspicious looking tree. That is where she meets a boy named Giles who is having the same problem with his parents.
    Giles told Juniper that he followed his parents into the woods to this very tree. They talked about why they might be going there and Juniper started to investigate.
     That night Juniper heard her parents get up out of bed, so she got up with them. She followed them down to the same tree. Then Juniper saw them sucking in the air of a balloon and disappearing down into the tree. She thought this was very strange.
    One thing Juniper noticed was that there was a black raven at that tree every time she went to it. I do not want to spoil the ending, but I will tell you some important events in the story. 


    In the Middle of the story Juniper finds a way into the tree with Giles. Also, they found some very mysterious letters that Juniper thinks her father wrote.
     Also in the tree lives Skeksyl, a very mean and persuasive person. He is very sly and sneaky and lives off of souls. The tree is also where she meets the man who makes the balloons and where she spies on her parents.
    Juniper wants her parents to care about her again and she wants them to notice her.  But her parents have been brainwashed into wanting to be famous by magical balloons and a mysterious, old man. Now they only care about their jobs. She needs to use teamwork to get her parents back to normal.
     One theme in this story is teamwork because Giles and Juniper need to work to save their parents and to get them back to normal. Another theme in this story is friendship because along the way, in between all of this confusion, Juniper and Giles form a friendship.
    

My Thoughts
    I rate this story 5/5 stars because I think it is absolutely outstanding. I could not put it down. This book is action packed and full of adventure.  It is written with excellent descriptions that make you feel sad, mad and happy.     

I think boys and girls ages 9-12 would enjoy this book. Also if you like scary, suspenseful stories this is definitely the book for you.
I hope you like Juniper Berry! 

Check out the book trailer. 

7 comments:

  1. I'll definitely have to recommend this one to my own library students! We love mysteries, and this one sounds like a riveting one. Thank you for the review, Mia! :-)

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  2. Mia,
    I recently read this book and I agree with you. It is such an interesting story that is action packed. I was glad that she and Giles got together to figure out what was happening at the tree. I'm recommending this to my story to my students and think I might read it with my daughter too!

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  3. What a great idea to get students to review the books - that's a real opinion that other students can relate to! I teach Kindergarten, but this book sounds great!

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  4. Sounds like a great book club choice!!

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  5. This sounds really great! Do you think it is too much to read to a 4 year old? She will be 5 in September, and I know that while learning to read I am supposed to be reading books that are about 2 grade levels above what she is learning.

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  6. The reading level would probably fit Rachel, but it has some really scary parts.

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