Book Review: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

By Masami Taguchi

The title is "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes." It was written by Arthur Conan Doyle. This story is very famous. It takes place in London, England.

The main characters are Holmes, who is a great detective, and Dr. Watson, who is Holmes’ assistant and the narrator of the story. The book has four chapters. Each chapter tells about crime. Holmes infers and solves a lot of crimes, and Dr. Watson helps him to solve a crime without realizing it.

Chapter One tells about a secret message. It is my favorite chapter. Holmes found the key of the secret message easily, and he solved the secret message. After that, I guessed the suspect. Then he found a suspect.

I recommend this book. I was deeply absorbed in reading this book because it is interesting and I read it easily. I was impressed with this sentence in the book: “Every problem becomes very simple when you understand it.” I was satisfied with this sentence.

Book Review – Rain Man

By Yuri Kubota

I read a book called Rain Man by Leonore Fleischer. I think you might have seen this movie before since it’s popular.

The main character is Charlie. He is 26 years old and his father dies one day. His father is rich so Charlie is supposed to get his money and house. But their relationship isn’t very good so his father doesn’t leave him any money. According to his will, the money goes to a man whom Charlie has never met before. Charlie doesn’t understand this situation so he decides to fight against this to get the money back.

One day, Charlie meets the man. His name is Raymond. Actually, Raymond is Charlie’s big brother who left home 20 years before. Raymond is not like other people. He panics when something changes around him, so he eats the same thing every day, does the same thing every day. First, Charlie thinks when he gets back the money, he can leave him. However, he comes to love him as a brother and understands him day by day. Charlie learns how to love someone.

I like this book because I can feel the importance of family love. In this story, Charlie learns how to love somebody from his brother. Before, I thought I’m the oldest sister in my family, so I’d never learn anything from my sisters because they are very young. But now I changed my mind. Your age doesn’t matter. Family is important for me and they make me what I am.

Book Review - Titanic!

By Mami Kashiwa

Titanic!

This book was written by Paul Shipton.

You know the RMS Titanic. RMS is a contraction of Royal Mail Ship. The Titanic, along with Olympic – class sister, Olympic and the soon to be built Britannic, were intended to be the largest, most luxurious ships ever to sail.

The Titanic left Southampton on the south coast of England, at noon on April 10, 1912. Even at the start of the trip, the Titanic had bad luck. There was almost an accident in the first minutes of the trip. Luckily, it was not big problem.

At this time of year, there was also a danger of icebergs in the North Atlantic, but the Titanic’s captain, Edward Smith, wasn’t really worried about icebergs because this was the unsinkable Titanic!

Suddenly, Lookouts Frederic Fleet saw a large, black shape in the ocean, so he rang the warning three times and telephoned the bridge. "Iceberg right ahead," he told Sixth Officer James Moody.

On the bridge, First Officer William Murdoch turned the ship left, hoping to miss the iceberg, and also ordered the crew to stop the ship, but the iceberg hit the side of the ship, making a few long holes below the water. The noise wasn’t very loud, but this was the beginning of the end for the Titanic.

Fifteen minutes later water was coming in. The ship could float with water in the four compartments at the front, but there was water in five of the compartments. So there was no hope. The Titanic was sinking. The crew sent rockets high into the dark sky.

There were more than 2,200 people on the Titanic, but the ship had lifeboats for only 1,178! The Titanic was breaking in two. Finally, at 2:20 on the morning of April 15, the "Queen of the Ocean”\" was gone. Hundreds of people were in the icy water of the North Atlantic. Some were holding on to furniture. Others were trying to swim. Many were screaming for help to the people in the lifeboats. The noise seemed to fill the night. Then screams became weaker and weaker. It seemed a dream.

James Cameron was writing the movie Titanic. This movie’s story doesn’t begin in 1912. It starts in the present day, when Rose is old. The movie Titanic had plenty of action, but the heart of the movie is the love story. This movie was released in 1997.

Book Review - The Lost Twin

By

I read The Lost Twin. The author is Raymond Pizante, and the illustrator is Liz Roberts. The book's level is 3rd.

I'll speak about the story of the book. The story is about certain twin brothers in Puerto Lindo city. A twin brother, Fadio, was kidnapped when they were four years old. The other twin brother, Ricardo, and their mom felt very sad, but they never forgot Dadio. Year later, Ricardo got the information about the kidnappers and Fadio when he was 16 years old. Fadio lived in Canada as an adopted child, so Ricardo went to Canada to meet Fadio. Fadio didn't know about the kidnapping but Ricardo explained it to him. Fadio believed the story and their relationship was special soon. Fadio could meet his real mother and spent time with her and Ricardo for days in Puerto Lindo city.

This book is interesting, so please read it.

Book Review - Love By Design

By Manami Sugawara

The book’s name is Love by Design. The author is Kieran McGovern. This book was published in 2005 for the first time.

This book’s story takes place in London. There is a boy named Tom. He wanted to go to Silverton College to study art and photography, but he has failed all subjects except art, so he couldn’t pass the exam. His father was very angry and told him that he has to decide to find a job or go back to school.

A few days later, he had got a job as an assistant of the Chief Librarian. Tom tomtimes drew pictures of the people who came into the library. One day, a girl came into the library because it was raining. Her name is Rita. She is poor because she has to get some money to treat her father. Also, Rita wants to be a model but nobody employed her as a model.
One day, they found an advertisement and it said, “Model wanted.” They met Mr. Spooner in a café and signed the contract. Actually, Mr. Spooner is a swindler, so Rits fell for the trick. Then Tom couldn’t catch her. He was looking for Rita a long time. Finally, he found Rita and knew that they [Mr. Spooner and Rita] will marry. It was a serious shock for him. He studies very hard to forget Rita. At last, Tom passed the exam at Silverton College. Amazingly, Tom and Rita met again at the welcome party of the college. The fact, when Rita and Mr. Spooner married, the police arrested Mr. Spooner as a trickster. Later, she succeeded as a designer and passed the exam at the same school as Tom. They fell in love with each other again.

This story is easy to understand and a good love story. I recommend this book, so I want everyone to read it.

Book Review - The Hulk

By Mika Hirano

Do you know this movie, Hulk?

The book I read is from the movie, but the original is from comics. The movie’s director is Ang Lee, James Schamus made the story for the movies, and David Maule wrote the short book.

Hulk means a large heavy person or thing.

This is a story like a diary about a man. The man is Bruce. He is different from others. When he gets angry, his body changes. It rows. It turns green. The Hulk is very strong and very dangerous. He works as a scientist at the Lawrence Berkelay lab in California.

He falls in love with Betty, who is a colleague at the same lab, and Betty too, but they cannot be happy because of the Hulk. Bruce is pursued by armies and his father. Actually, his father was a scientist and made the Hulk. At the end of the story, his father was killed by the armies and Bruce ran away to South America, and he got a new life. He was not able to be happy with Betty.

I feel easy to read this book because it doesn’t have many pages and difficult words, and it has pictures from the movie.

Book Review - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

By Mika Hirano

I read a book, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. It is from the movie and this series is very famous, so I think most students in the class have seen the movies once. The book, Dead Man’s Chest, is part 2 of the movies. It was written by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio for the screenplay. Johnny Depp played the main character; Jack Sparrow is popular in Japan. This time, three guys—Captain Jack, Will Turner, and Elizabeth Swann—looked for a chest. There is a heart in the chest. The heart was from the terrible Captain Davy Jones. Jack looked for the chest not to need to escape from a governor. The governor hoped to get the chest and to arrest Jack. Will and Elizabeth looked for the chest to get married. Now they cannot because they helped Jack to escape, so they were offenders. However, Davy Jones had other plans for Jack, but I don’t know the plans. It isn’t written in the book. I think you can know the plans if you watch part 3 of the movie.

Anyway, Davy Jones tried to catch Jack many times, and the last, finally, Jack caught Davy, and Jack went down with his ship, the Black Pearl, into the ocean.

I don’t recommend you this book because if you read the book you will want to see or read the sequel to the book.

Book Review - Pele

By Martin Wicki

The whole story from this book is about Pele. Rod Smith has written this book.

Pele’s real name is Edson Arantes do Nascimento, but all people call him Pele.
Pele is the number one player in the story of soccer. In 1,363 games, he scored 1,264 goals. Pele won the World Cup with Brasil three times.

He has visited eighty-eight countries, and his picture was in every newspaper of the world.

Pele is not only a famous soccer player, he knows Spanish, Italian, English, and French.

Pele came into the world on the night of 23 October 1940. He and his family live in a small house in Tres Coracoes, Brazil.

Little Pele played soccer the whole day long. In 1954, Pele was 14 years old. He came to a big soccer club in Brazil.

In 1958 was his first World Cup game. He won the Games with Brazil in this year. Brazil and Pele won the World Cup also in 1962 and 1966.

After his old team, Pele went to New York for a job with an American team named the New York Cosmos. The job was for $4.7 million USD. He played 3 years for this team.
Pele’s final game ever was on October 1, 1977. It was with his old club, Santos. Pele played for his new team, and then for Santos. He scored a good goal and said goodbye to soccer.

After his life as a soccer player, Pele didn’t stop working. He wasn’t only a good soccer player and teacher. He loved young people, too. He worked for UNICEF and talked with governments about the problems of the world’s children. Workers for UNICEF do good things for children with problems.

I like this book because it is short and simple to read and the story of Pele is great. I can only say Pele was and is the best soccer champion of the world.

Book Review - Titanic

By Miho Yoshioka

This book is written by Tim Vicary. This is a very famous story in the world. There is a movied that was made of this story.

On a quiet sea, the biggest ship in the world is waiting. There is no noise from the engines. Up in the sky there are hundreds of stars. Behind the ship, an iceberg goes slowly away in to the black night.

The Titanic is the biggest ship in the world. More than 15,000 people built the Titanic in Belfast, Northern Ireland. They began building it in 1909 and finished it in 1912. The Titanic was very safe. "It is much safer than older ships," the newspaper said. Also, it was very beautiful. First class rooms were like rooms in a very expensive hotel. Second class rooms were beautiful too. They were better than the first class rooms on most ships.

There were about 2200 people on the ship. However, there were only 20 lifeboats. Frankly speaking, all those people can't get into 20 lifeboats. But they never mind. They don't really ned lifeboats because they don't doubt that the Titanic can never sink. An exciting new life is waiting for them in America. But for many people in this small "city on the sea," this is their last night alive.

The English vocabulary is not so hard, so I think that is easy to read for everyone. If you have a chance, please read it.

Book Review - Little Women

By Ayako Suzuki

The title is Little Women. The author is Louisa May Alcott.

Setting: This book begins two days before Christmas.

Main characters: Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy.

Meg is 16 and she is very beautiful. She has big eyes and beautiful long brown hair.

Jo is 15. She is tall and thin. She has dark eyes and long brown hair.

Beth is 13. She is very quiet.

Amy has blue eyes and yellow hair. She is selfish.

They have a mother and father, but they live with their mother only because their father lives in a very far place. Then, their father works there. They want to live with their father.

One day they talked about Christmas. They hope that they will get some presents, but, their family didn't have any money, and they know their father will not come back. They try to buy some presents for themselves, but Mother heard this talk.

On Christmas morning, they opened their eyes and they looked under the beds. There were four books there. Their mother bought four books. They were very happy. Then, they go presents from a boy. They didn't know about the boy.

Five days later, Jo met the boy at a party. They talked a lot. Then, Jo fell in love with the boy.

This book talks about parties, the trouble with Amny, Meg's Glove, Jo's hair, and Beth's sickness. I like the story about Jo's hair. One day, their father gets sick, but they don't have any money. So Jo sold her hair and gave the money to her mother. Jo's hair was very short. When I read this, my heart hurts because she is very kind.

On Christmas Day, their father came back home. They were very, very happy.

I chose this book because it was attached to a CD. I listened to this CD a lot of times.

Book Report - The Wizard of Oz

By Chikako Hirashima

This book is The Wizard of Oz. It was written by Frank L. Baum.

Dorothy and her little dog, Toto, are carried by a cyclone from her aunt and uncle's house in Kansas. When they come down, they find themselves in the land of Oz. They begin a journey to the Emerald City to get back to Kansas. They meet some new friends on the journey.

Scarecrow wants some brains, and Tin Woodman wants a heart, and Cowardly Lion wants courage. They got over their difficulties and arrived at the Emerald City.

The Wizard of Oz isn't a wizard, just a man, so he can't give some things that they want. But he thought about them. He shook the pins, needles, and sawdust all together, and pushed them into the top of the Scarecrow's head. Next, he cut a hole in the Tin Woodman's body, and he put a pretty heart inside, and he mended the hole. Finally, he had Cowardly Lion drink water. The Scarecrow felt wise, and Tin Woodman felt happy, and Cowardly Lion felt full of courage.

But Dorothy and Toto are unhappy because they can't go back to Kansas. So Dorothy and Toto and their new friends go and see Glinda, the good Witch of the South. Glinda teaches them how to get back to Kansas.

So Dorothy and Toto could go back to Kansas and meet her aunt and uncle again.

I think it is not possible to do something when thinking that it is not possible to do it.

Book Review: Marco

By Emika Uetake

Marco is a boy who is working at his fathers farm. But he dislikes work. He didn’t talk a lot with his family. One day, he decided to go to a big city to escape the life. Immediately after arriving in the city, his money was stolen by a girl. The girl planned to buy a cake with his money, and she ate the cake alone. But Marco noticed that and he followed her, but a policeman helped her because she lives in the city and is a girl. Marco turned and walked away down the street.

When he was walking down a street, he found a market. In addition, he found a shop that was selling his farm’s peaches. Marco took a peach, and was about to eat it, but the shop’s owner became angry and a lot of people were watching him and they all looked unfriendly. Then, his father’s friend named Carlo found Marco and helped. So he could eat peaches and go back home. He thought it was good for him just working at his farm.

Book Review: The House on the Hill

By Olga Juchnik

I’ll tell you something about his book. The name of the book is The House on the Hill. The name of the author is Elizabeth Laird. The issue date is 1986.
In a beautiful summer, Paul was finished the college and wanted to be a writer and work for a newspaper. But first he needed to rest.

One day he went down to the river and saw a young and very beautiful girl with long dark hair and she was wearing a pretty dress. Paul went up to her. Her name is Maria and she lived in the big white house on the hill.

Paul and Maria talked for a long time until it was nearly dark. And she had to go. Paul knew she was a rich girl, and he was poor. He lived in a little brown house, alone with his mother because his father was dead.

After that, Paul and Maria often met near the river and they fell in love.
On day, everything was changing after he asked her to marry him. She didn’t answer. She turned and ran away. But there were tears in her eyes. And Paul did not understand Maria.

The mistress from the big and important house was a rich old woman. She was ugly and her eyes were small and cold. She sent her servant to pick Paul up to make conversation about her daughter Maria. Paul hoped that Maria changed her mind and wanted to marry him.

But he learned Maria was going to be married soon to another man who was rich.
Maria said only, “I’m sorry. My mother is right. I don’t want to be poor. I want money, clothes, and a big car. Goodbye, Paul.”

Paul was very sad. All the time he thought about Maria. One day he saw a headline in the newspaper. “Rich man’s beautiful bride” with a picture of Maria and her husband. Paul wrote a story, “Paul and Maria,” and sent it to the newspaper for a story competition. He won first prize, and hoped Maria will see his story because he still loved her.

At the time when Paul got an envelope with the prize money at the newspaper office, the manager offered him to work for his newspaper. Paul was very surprised and agreed.

Paul learned that ugly old woman, Maria’s mother, died last week and Maria ran away from her husband. Now he should go to the funeral because they needed a report about it for the paper. It was a big funeral he wrote about it. He saw Maria standing along because everybody thought she’s a bad woman, she left her husband and killed her mother. Poor Maria, he thought.

He wanted to see Maria again, and went to her house. It was “For Sale” and looked empty. He went into the house through the window. There was nobody there and the rooms were all empty. Suddenly he heard a noise from another room. it was Maria. She answered Paul’s questions about her husband and wanted to be with Paul again. But he saw her look like her mother, hard and cold. He just said, “I don’t love you anymore. Goodbye, Maria.”

Paul left the house on the hill and walked home. He was free. Finally he met a pretty girl, Elsa. It was his cousin.

I would recommend this book because it is a nice story, easy to read and understand.