Week 5




The book I have chosen to review is The Secret Tree by Natalie Standiford. The genre is mystery and realistic fiction. I would give this book a 4/5 stars because it is very intriguing and leaves you wanting to read more.

This book is about two best friends Minty and Paz, and all the adventures they go on during their summer vacation. The main character is Minty she is an adventurous, outgoing and spontaneous. Minty stumbles across a secret tree with notes that have peoples secrets written on them in a forest near her house one day. She them meets Raymond and the two of them set out to discover which secret belongs to who. "Did everyone around me have secrets?"pg 77. She is determined to find out which secret belongs to who and during the process she finds out a lot about her neighbours. The major conflict throughout the book is minty and Raymond trying to not get caught sneaking around their neighbourhood. "Thea looked up-- and saw me."pg 105. It is hard for Minty and Raymond to snoop around and many of the times they get caught trying to do so.


I can relate to Paz in the story because she is quite at first until you get to know her and i am like that asa well. I have tried to spy on my brother before when i was younger but it did not really work. I have lots of connections to the setting and period because this book was published in 2012 and i was eight when it came out, such as living in a neighbour hood with lots of friends, and hanging out with my friends and trying new things. " I feel like going for a bike ride with Melina, thats all."pg 50.  When I was younger i used to ride bikes with my friends in our neighbourhood all the time and i have a lot of really good memories from those times. This book is similar to Scooby doo in a sense because Scooby doo is about a group of friends that are trying to uncover mysteries and thats what this book is about as well. There is a lot of connections to the real world as it is a realistic fiction book, such as use of cell phones, hanging out with friends, tv's, family life, and party's. "The parade will go on!". pg 120.  They also have a fourth of July parade in the story and we have many kinds of parades here as well so i can make lots of connections to that.

I really like this book and it is one of my favourite books. My favourite part is when all the kids in the neighbourhood have a pool party, it really represents what life is like as a teen and it seems a lot of fun. "I climbed out of the and raced to the snack bar". pg. 146. I think this section of the book is very detailed and really makes it feel like you are there too. I do not have a least favourite part of the book because i think the whole book ties together really well and theres not one part i don't like. I think all the characters in the book are believable and i think the author did a really good job showcasing what its like to be a child in that era.  The writing quality was also very well done throughout the book, the author used lots of sensory imagery throughout the book and made it seem very believable. The setting is the main theme of the book so i think it is very appropriate and it would not have been able to work if it were based in another area. " we live on Woodlawn Road, a dead-end street, one side lined with cookie cutter houses, the other side lined with woods." pg 15. The setting is very detailed and plays a big role throughout the story.  If i could change something about the book i would change the main characters names. I think the author should have given them normal names like everyone else and not Minty and Paz.  I would recommend this book to my friends because i think they would really enjoy it and i feel like they would all be able to relate to it. What i gained from reading this book is that no matter what happens to always stay close with your friends and family because they will stay with you through it all. The theme of it is mystery and building and keeping friendships. 

Overall i really like this book and would highly recommend it to kids my age or younger.  I would give it a 4/5 stars because its well written and has an overall good story line. Im glad i got to read this book again because i can really relate it it and it is very entertaining.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 2

WEEK TWO Page 3-55 The setting in the novel is in a friendly neighbourhood where everyone knows each other and gets along quite well. There is also a forrest across the street from the neighbourhood, where the secret tree is. The setting is very important to the novel because this is where the secret tree is and it could not happen anywhere else. "We live on Woodlawn Road, a dead-end street, one side lined with cookie-cutter houses, the other side lined with woods." pg.15. This quote explains the setting of the novel very well because everything that happens in the book happens in this neighbourhood and it is very significant because this is the whole setting of the story. The point of view in the story is from the main character, Minty Fresh. She is a young girl in grade six, who has a passion for roller durby. The book follows her through her adventures in life. The point of view would not be the same if it was from another character and the whole story would have t...
Read more

Week 4

pg.95-135 The main theme in the book is mystery. We get to read about Paz as she is trying to figure out who's secrets belong to who. It's very interesting and a lot happens along the way that makes not want to stop reading. "Let's spy on the Murphys tonight". They spy on people quite a bit throughout the novel and sometimes it does not end well.  Which makes a quote like this quite important because then we know who they will be spying on that night.  If I had to choose one of the characters to be my friend I would choose, Paz, because she is very adventurous, out going and spontaneous. I like to hang out with people like that because i like to go out and do new things and i don't like to sit around and do nothing all day so i think her and i would get along quite well.  " We glided like ghosts through yards, past houses sleeping and wakeful." This quote is what she is doing when she is out spying and it shows the use of creative words the ...
Read more